Kim Possible:  Redemption
by Twisted-Wun
Summary: After a mission that goes very wrong, Kim Possible only has one chance to live.  If Shego lets her.
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own Kim Possible, or any Disney character named herein. This is a work of nonprofit fiction for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Redemption**

**By Twisted-Wun**

**1**

Shego coughed once. Twice. Then groaned as her eyes fluttered open to stare up at near darkness as the gray haze of settling dust and smoke colored the dimly lit corridor she lay in just then. Nearby, a fluttering safety light on the high side of the bored out passage gave her what little light filled the underground passage just then.

She lay there a second more before her mind recovered an instant after her body, and she jumped up to look around as she remembered the usual song-and-dance with Possible and her buffoon that had ended in…..big surprise….another exploding lair.

When would Dr. D figure out he could not beat that pair. Especially not since monkey-boy tapped his inner mojo, and came in like a one-man army at times. She was all for holding on to the conditional pardon they had earned 'helping' save the world a few years back, but nooooooo. Drew had mommy issues, and was more determined than ever to show his mother he could literally hand her the world.

Doy, why was she even still with him? His checks bounced more often than not lately, and even her patience was starting to wear thin with some of his loopy plans.

She slowly rose to her feet, experienced enough to know to be cautious in a lair that had just exploded. That she was laying alone in the tunnel was telling in itself. Leave it to Blueboy to build his latest lair on top of a volcanic ridge that just happened to have an untapped gas pocket underneath.

Jerk.

She waved her hand before her, dispersing the smoke as she walked to the end of the tunnel that ended all too soon. The escape hatch was only five feet from where she stood. Unfortunately, the wall of rock in front of her made it seem that crossing that seemingly short space was really unlikely just then.

Turning back, she peered back into the hazy darkness. Okay, so where did that tunnel go again? Drakken tended to plan his lairs like his plots. Which was telling. She walked back down tunnel to find the far end blocked. Figures. And she wasn't even sure she knew where it went. That left only one door, and it was not all that promising considering she had been literally blown through it just before she lost consciousness.

She shoved some of the debris aside to clamber over and through the warped steel panel, and dropped back down into the ruined lab that was the hub of the lair. A few emergency lights gave her enough illumination to see well enough to get around, but most of the equipment, and the escape hatch on the far side, were inoperable. Tons of rubble landing on it, she guessed, or simply cutting it off in the case of the latter, did not improve her options.

She was looking around, wondering how she ended up in these sitches, as Princess called them, when she heard a low moan.

Turning, she traced the source of the sound to a half crushed lab table on its side. Moving some of the rubble aside, she found a simple steel chair, and pulled it away to find Kim Possible herself laying there pinned by the overturned table. It was obvious the woman had grabbed the chair at the last moment to shield herself from falling rock and debris, but how had she ended up pinned? Let alone left behind?

Even as she pushed the rest of the loose rock and rubble aside, she found Kim's lower body was completely pinned beneath the overturned table.

The gas pocket exploding must have caught her off guard, too. Only where was Drew and the monkey-boy?

Even as she started to reach for the heavy table still pinning Kim down, she heard another moan, and bright green eyes flared open as Kim stared up her.

"Shego," the woman hissed, and tried to rise only to fail miserably.

"Hold on, Pumpkin," she gave a familiar smirk. "I'll get you out of there, and then you can get us both out of here."

"Gas….."

"Yeah, I figured that one. Doc's laser must have set it off when he tried to tap the magma chamber. Genius, he is not."

"Ron," she groaned, looking around as Shego turned back to strain at the table that was heavier than it looked. Something creaked, and then with a sudden lurch, the table rose, and was tilted back on its squared legs as the heavy metal frame sent booming vibrations through the ruined lab.

"Uh-oh," Kim groaned as the vibrations and echo finally faded.

"What, uh-oh," Shego grimaced, knowing that if Kim was worried, things were bad. "Stop with the uh-oh. I don't like uh-oh."

"Sorry," Kim smiled weakly, but didn't move. "It's just, judging from the acoustical reverberations just now, it's more than likely we're completely cut off, and there is no way we're getting out of here anytime soon."

"Hey, no big, as you say. I'm sure both our doofuses got out, and they're probably working out how to help us even now."

"Maybe," she said so somberly that even Shego was shook.

"Okay. That did not sound overly cheerful and optimistic. I'm the cynical one here, Princess. You're supposed to be….."

Shego frowned down at her as she leaned against the table, still resting. After their fight, and the explosion, lifting that overgrown paperweight of a table had actually winded her.

"Uh, Kimmie? Why aren't you getting up, and…..doing things?"

Kim continued to look grim. "Because, Shego. I don't think I can. I can't feel my legs. And when I tried to sit up, my back felt….wrong."

"Oh….snap," Shego rasped. "Not good."

"At least we're still breathing," Kim told her.

"So far. Even I know there must be residual gas, and all this smoke and dust isn't going anywhere."

"Actually, it is," Kim pointed.

Shego turned to see the small swirling eddy in the haze that suggested there was a passage somewhere.

"Okay. That's promising. What about your Nerdlinger? Can you reach him….?

Shego groaned when Kim quietly held up a bloody, left hand, and showed the smashed body of the Kimmunicator on her wrist.

"You're really not helping out here, Kimmie."

"I just showed you a possible way out. You have to see if it will get you out, and then bring back help."

Shego stared at her incredulously.

"You really expect me to…..?"

"Well, _I'm_ not going anywhere," she said honestly.

Shego bit her lip, and suddenly felt her thud as a distant rumble sounded far below them.

"Don't tell me….."

"Drakken may have succeeded in triggering the volcano after all," Kim said so quietly Shego almost didn't hear her.

"Figures," Shego sighed.

"Just go, Shego. We don't know how much time before something bad happens. Maybe you can still make it in time….."

"Or maybe I'd be leaving you here to die alone," Shego hissed indignantly.

"You can't help me now, Shego," Kim told her. "And I can't help you. Besides, the odds are better if you leave now…"

"Never tell me the odds!" She stopped and glared. "Okay, why did that sound like a bad movie line even to me?"

"Shego. Just go," Kim said so calmly that she had to wonder about her.

"Okay, why aren't you screaming and crying right now? 'Cause me? I'm freakin' in your place, and trying not to scream myself," she admitted.

"I am scared," Kim told her. "And I don't want to die," she said, her eyes suspiciously bright just then. "But I've faced this possibility too many times to lie to myself. Your best chance…. Our best chance, is for you to go. Now. We both know you can't move me. I'm too big, and too heavy for even you to try carrying out of here. Especially in my condition."

Shego slapped a palm to her forehead as she blurted out; "Doy! Why didn't I think of that"

"Shego?"

The woman said nothing as she just rummaged through the wreckage for a few minutes, and then turned to stand over her with a wide grin. It took her a moment for Kim to realize that Shego was pointing a small, yellow pistol at her. Right before Kim gasped as Shego suddenly began to rise higher and higher to tower over her.

No. _She_ was shrinking.

"The advantages of living with a mad genius," Shego grinned down at the six inch Kimberly as she found a small sliver of metal she trimmed with her plasma to form a suitable backboard to carry the miniaturized heroine. She used some tape and cord to secure her, and the carefully slid her into a pocket on her equipment belt.

"Try to hold on, Kimmie. I'm getting us out of here if I can," she said as she headed for the small pocket of darkness where Kim had pointed out the swirling dust and haze. Even as she climbed the sloping, slippery pile of rubble, she felt as much as heard the low rumble behind and beneath them building.

"Not good," she said, and scrambled up the shifting heap all the faster as visions of her own death in a red-hot lava pool spurred her on.

_**KP**_

"My…..God," Dr. Director rasped as she, Ron Stoppable, and the other Global Justice agents forced to pull back their rescue operations watched the formerly serene mountain explode with all of nature's fury. The pyroclastic cloud rose high over the hitherto silent mountain, and began to cover the surrounding territory as they watched from a safe distance.

"Kim," Ron choked on his own grief.

Even Drakken, currently bound and shackled in a GJ transport, was staring out in horror at the scene before them.

"Tell me you got her out," he demanded, and both of them knew who he meant. "Tell me you didn't leave her behind!"

Ron dropped his head, knowing he wasn't talking about Kim. Will turned to point a weapon right at the man's head. "I swear to God, you blue freak, that if you do not shut up, I will shut you up. For good!"

Drew Lipski knew when someone was bluffing. He lived with a walking contradiction for years, and he knew when to take someone serious.

His blue lips compressed when the agent pointed that weapon at his head. The usually dour, by-the-book agent was not kidding. He didn't even have his safety on.

"Will. Stand down," Betty snapped, but her voice was subdued. "We're staying on station to help any survivors once the eruption is over. Call for backup to take Mr. Lipski into custody. Add _two_ counts of murder to the usual charges."

For once, Drew said nothing as he stared past the barrel of the weapon Will only gradually lowered, and up at the volcano that was now ravaging the area as it spent its fury on the once pristine wilderness that surrounded the Tetons in western Wyoming.

The plan was simple. Tap into peripheral ridge systems, and threaten to activate a super volcano that would devastate the nation unless they bowed to him. It was simple, direct, and flawless in his head.

How could he have known it would go so very wrong?

"How could I be expected to know what would happen? It's not like I'm a geologist," he muttered sourly.

He never saw Will Du's fist fly. He only knew he later woke up in a holding cell far from his lair.

Which was apparently now Shego and Kim Possible's grave from what he had seen and heard.

"At least it's not as bad as we feared," Betty stated grimly as she merely glanced down at the unconscious lunatic. "Large as it is, the eruption isn't even going to reach beyond the foothills."

Ron found it hard to care just then.

_**KP**_

"Crap, crap, crap," Shego chanted as she pushed, shoved, and melted her way though the very narrow passage that only led her to another dead end.

Then she saw the gleaming nose of one of Drakken's subterranean drills, and she almost howled with glee as she raced across the hangar as the ground began to vibrate alarmingly as Kim's tiny voice was drowned out by the thunder now rumbling ominously all around them.

She climbed up into the cockpit, quickly powering up the mobile drill, and knowing a few things about geology and volcanism after spending half her life around lunatic scientists on both sides of the law, she aimed her transport's nose down rather than up.

With luck, they could escape the lava, and the inevitable destruction topside when the volcano did its thing.

She was just two miles away from the ravaged lair when she felt the entire transport shudder in spite of the state-of-the-art gyros and stabilizers, and felt the temperature start to heat up alarmingly. Just about the same time that all navigational sensors went out. "Not good," she admitted, and blindly aimed upward as she realized she had obviously blundered right into one of the magma pools Dr. D was hunting with his sonic laser thingy.

She felt the drill lagging, and something was whining really badly from the rear as the engine began to complain. Loudly.

"Definitely not good," she said, and felt the sudden jolt as the world seemed to explode with such force that she felt like she was going to be deaf the rest of her life. However long that might prove to be as she felt the drill actually tilt, and suddenly fall before it thudded back down onto a hard surface.

The heat was still incredible, and things were sparking and smoking around her as the bitter scent of ozone filled the cabin, but the engine was still running, and just then, that was all she could hope for as she floored the accelerator, and tried to angle up and away from wherever the hell they had blundered. She didn't have a clue, as the heat had shorted out almost all her instruments, and her navigational array really was literally toast.

The whining behind her slowly started to become a dull clatter, that eventually became a loud knocking, but the temperature had finally cooled enough that the venting and air returned to near normal, and she wasn't breathing smoke any longer. She was starting to feel pretty cocky, and more than confident when the drill suddenly lurched again, and she felt the entire vehicle roll before it landed semi-upright, and left her painfully aware of the utter silence that now emanated from the engine compartment after that last halfhearted sputter.

"Not good," she said not for the first time as she sighed, and finally unbuckled the harness to start for the access panel.

In the sudden silence, she heard a faint squeak, and only then remembered Kim was housed securely in one of her equipment pouches. It said something about her own state of mind that she had managed to forget the injured redhead that long.

"Trust me," she murmured as she pulled the scowling doll-sized woman out of her resting place to check her makeshift restraints. "You didn't miss anything."

Kim made a mousey squeaking, but since she had shrank her, she had barely made out two words from her. She lay her down on the deck, then pulled out the shrink ray she used to occasionally to pull off impossible crimes, and returned Kim to her normal size.

Only then did Shego realize how really pale and drawn the woman looked.

"What…..happened," Kim asked, looking as if she was really wanting to pass out more than pass time.

"I drilled out of the lair in one of Doc's tunnelers. Only I think I tunneled right into the eruption, and while we got away, I'm pretty sure I blew out the engine. I was just about to check things out when….. Do you hear dripping?"

Kim looked around, and 'pointed' with her chin. "Water. It's coming from over there."

Shego moaned, seeing the 'sun roof' Drew had insisted on getting in spite of the absurdity of it on the underground machine. Only then did she realize the seal was damp, and there was water dripping from one side.

"You have to be kidding me," she groaned when she checked the portable GPS after remembering it, which was thankfully still working, and only then realized what had happened.

"Shego," Kim asked.

"I missed the surface. By about two thousand miles," she admitted. "We must have got turned around in a lava tube, or something, and somehow…..we came up in, or under the damn ocean. We're somewhere in the freaking Pacific," she said, and sat down in disgust.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about burning up," Kim tried to smile, but groaned instead.

Not as loudly as Shego did at her comment.

"Without an engine, we're going nowhere, and…"

She froze as the metal shell around them groaned ominously.

"Yep. Right on cue. I'd say we have… What? Twenty minutes before the air runs out. Maybe less before the ocean decides to crush us like a soda can if the pressure gets us first?"

"Maybe not."

Shego gaped at her.

"Can you…..manipulate the atmosphere in here?"

"I think so."

"Can you jettison…..stuff?"

"Uh, define stuff."

"The engine compartment for starters," Kim told her. "I recall some of these models come with redundant compartments. Can you separate us, and increase the atmosphere to make us lighter than the water density, allowing us…"

"To float up like a balloon! Doy! I should have thought of that one myself," she said, and quickly ran through the rear hatch to arm the emergency separation charges in the back.

"Ready for your ears to pop? Oh, and get ready to take a deep breath if the air pressure pops the sun roof. Yeah, yeah, I know," she said at Kim's expression. "Only Dr. D would demand such a feature on a subterranean tunneler."

They both tensed and gasped when the vehicle shifted and jerked a moment later, and then Shego began to charge the recyclers as she vented everything she could to lighten their segment of the now dead tunneler. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, then both women howled as the compartment rolled, and began to shift before it rose slowly toward the surface of the ocean even as the seal on the sun roof began to leak with alarming swiftness.

Kim, surprised to find Shego studying her makeshift backboard that had grown with her, stared up into darker green eyes, and realized the woman was paler than usual, and looking less than her usual confident self.

"We'll make it," Kim told her quietly, her tone filled with pain all the same.

"Now you get cheerfully optimistic? That's disgusting," the woman complained with a weak smile.

"Well, I was pretty sure I was going to die underground. After you brought us this far, I'm now pretty sure we're going to be okay."

"Says the cheerleader strapped to a corner of a lab table."

Kim smiled wanly. "I gave up cheerleading after high school. But thanks all the same."

"Thanks?"

"For saving my life," she told her earnestly.

Shego leaned back, banging her head on the console behind her. Then doing it again. And again.

"What are you doing?"

"This is so going to ruin my reputation," she complained. "I'm supposed to be putting you out of action, Princess. Not saving your skinny butt."

"My butt is so not skinny," Kim huffed as she looked up at the green-skinned woman.

Which was when the cabin was filled with faint light as they realized they reached the surface, and daylight was flooding in through the cracks in the sun roof.

Shego grinned, for about three seconds. She heard the faint hissing and bubbling around her, and was smart enough to know what came next.

"In about three minutes, the air is going to bleed out, and this thing is going down like a rock again," she realized.

"So we need to get out."

"Kim, you're tied to a slab of steel."

"Untie me."

"Your back…."

"I can deal. I _can't_ breathe underwater. Can you?"

"Doy," she groaned, and used her claws to slice the cords and enlarged strips of tape to free her of the makeshift backboard. "I don't suppose you can move yet?"

Kim heard the hopeful cynicism in her tone, but only smiled faintly. It hurt too much to even try shaking her head. "Can't even wiggle my piggies."

"_Piggies_? Gah, Possible. How old are you?"

Kim gave a weak laugh. "Just let me float. I'll be fine."

"I don't know which of us is crazier," she complained, and headed for the hatch again, knowing when she opened it, the compartment was going down in a heartbeat. She had to get them both out, and away, or they'd go back down with it.

"So, we get away from a volcano just to drown in the ocean," she sputtered as she pulled Kim close to the hatch, and got ready to evacuate. She was ready to pull the hatch open when she saw it. Tearing open the box marked simply '_Supplies_,' she pulled out a pair of matched life jackets.

"I am not even going to ask," Kim said as she gave a faint giggle at Shego's expression as she helped Kim into the jacket before putting on the other she found. No life raft, but she found a small medical kit, and even a box of MREs with a small emergency radio of Henchco design. She shrank the lot, pushed it all down into her equipment pouch, and then turned to Kim after tying their jackets together with some of the discarded cord she had kept.

"Ready, Pumpkin?"

"Anytime," she nodded, though her face was grayer than ever.

"Here we go again," Shego groaned, and pulled open the hatch, fighting the flood of salt water as the compartment began to sink almost instantly.

_Continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

_I do not own Kim Possible, or any Disney character named herein. This is a work of nonprofit fiction for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Redemption**

**By Twisted-Wun**

**2**

"If it's any consolation, Ron, she probably went….fast. In that kind of atmosphere…."

"Wade. No. Just…..no," Ron said as the young genius stood nearby as they stood close to the front of the crowded cemetery where foreign dignitaries came to help mourn the passing of Earth's greatest heroine.

"I'm sorry, Ron. You know I….. I'm sorry," the slightly taller, no longer so husky young teen told him. "It's still hard to believe she's really….."

"Yeah. I know. I keep thinking she's just going to pop up, and tell us, 'No big,' and then we….. We….."

Ron's head dropped as he shook his head, and his shoulders shook.

"That madman better hope I never see him again," Ron finally hissed as he raised a clenched fist wreathed with a faint, bluish aura that was echoed in his glittering eyes.

Wade swallowed hard. And people thought he was still just a buffoon?

"Have you decided what you're going to do now?"

Ron shook his head. "So not the time, Wade," he told him, glancing over to where the Possibles, those still alive, stood gathered before the grave…. The empty grave…..meant to memorialize their daughter.

Ann Possible was remarkably composed, and stood bracketed by her sons who just stared, astonishingly subdued for once. James Possible stood closest to the goofy statue some artist decided to put up after the mayor okayed it, his tears flowing freely as he stared at the image of his daughter cast in bronze, looking out on the world from her 'power stance' as if she might still be out there, still fighting.

Ron hated the statue. He knew Kim would have hated it, too. It wasn't her thing.

If she wanted, she could have had dozens of statues, medals, or rewards. She shunned them all, and just seemed to sincerely enjoy helping. Whether it was a cat out of a tree, or a nation threatened by a madman.

That was the KP he remembered.

Nor could he forget that just two weeks from now they had planned to finally marry. Two weeks. Instead, he was standing here watching them pretend to bury her, knowing he would never see her again. That even her body likely had not even survived to be buried even if they were to go back and dig up every inch of that shattered cone that remained of Drakken's lair.

Molten lava, and geothermal forces like that just didn't leave much of anything in their wake. He had learned that the hard way after three weeks helping GJ's relief forces, hoping against hope that Kim had pulled off another Possible miracle.

Almost two months, and not a word. Not a sign. It was obvious to the most optimistic of them that this time even Kim's luck had finally run out.

There was a weird kind of irony that apparently Shego went with her. Weird, too, how Team Go never said anything, though. When he told them about Shego's apparent final stand, Hego had just thanked him for his courtesy, and closed the door in his face. They had yet to release any official word concerning their former sister/teammate's demise.

That was handled in a GJ brief quickly buried by the more startling news that Kim Possible had finally run out of luck.

"This is a joke. A bad one. I'm going home," he told Wade, and walked past his parents, and all the sympathetic mourners without another word.

_**KP**_

Coughing and sputtering, she stayed close to Kim as the waves swept over them. Three hours, and no sign of land, ships, or any other hope of rescue. Shego was starting to think they had traded a fiery grave for a watery one.

"Hang in there, Kimmie," she said as she clung to the pale redhead's jacket, keeping them all but face-to-face. "Someone has to have heard my distress beacon by now, and it's only a matter of time….."

"Shego," she blinked, more asleep than awake. "Can't…..feel my toes."

"I know," she told her. "You hurt your back. Remember?"

"Oh," she murmured, her eyes fluttering. "Tell…. Tell Ron.…"

Kim's head bobbed again, and Shego actually felt panic at the idea the indefatigable redhead was actually dying in front of her. This was not the way they were supposed to end. Not the way Kim was supposed to end. It was wrong. All wrong.

She swore as the waves began to pick up, and she wanted to curse whatever god was trying their best to dump more grief on them.

Then she looked up and realized the waves were from the wake of a large, personal yacht rapidly approaching them.

She laughed almost manically as she saw the men all wore Henchco uniforms.

"It's about damn time," she swore at the first rescuer who swam out to reach them, and she stopped him when he saw who was with her, and almost reached for a knife.

"She's hurt bad. Her back. Probably decompression sickness, too," she added, knowing the redhead didn't have her preternatural healing abilities to overcome such things despite her phenomenal conditioning.

The man started to smirk as he eyed the pale woman.

"You mess with her, and you'll wish I only left you for the sharks," she said curtly as the henchman eyed Shego, the ashen redhead, and then nodded.

"Can you swim," he asked.

"Try me," she growled.

"Follow me to the ship," he said when he took the back of Kim's jacket, and began to gently tug her to the yacht.

"We need a backboard," he shouted up at the dapper, older man who looked down on them when they reached the side of the large yacht. Shego refused to climb up the ladder until Kim was safe, and while she didn't exactly understand her own motivations, she only understood that she owed her.

Literally, owed her her life.

Without Possible, she likely would have been dead thrice over by now. That went beyond the whole hero/villain thing in her mind.

Fifteen minutes later, she staggered up after Kim and the rescue diver with Senor Senior, Sr. at her side.

"I must say, Shego. When we received your distress beacon, the last thing I expected to find was you and our frequent adversary Kim Possible swimming about in the ocean. You do know you've _both_ been officially declared dead? You supposedly suffered a particularly nasty ending, too, I had heard."

"What," Shego stopped to frown, leaning against the bulkhead as she did. She was literally running on fumes, and she knew it. "You're saying they really think we….?"

"My dear, according to all reports, everyone thinks you and Miss Possible died in that dreadful volcanic eruption last week."

She shook her head. "Well, I hate to disappoint, but…"

Senor Senior smiled congenially at the woman that had just passed out at his feet. He knew her spirit and determination, of course. He had worked with her before, and even hired her a few times. That she lasted this long, and ended up so far from the scene of her reported demise was a story he simply had to hear.

Then, too, there was young Kimberly.

She did not look too good, and it was obvious that Shego could have rid herself of her any time she wished from the look of her. Yet she hadn't.

Yes, he was definitely going to have to hear this story.

"Take her to the doctor, if you please. And if you value your life, treat her _very_ carefully," the aging tycoon who dabbled in villainy more as a hobby than not informed the men who came at his summons.

He paused thoughtfully, and added, "Treat them both very carefully."

_**KP**_

"I'm going to Yamanouchi," Ron told Wade. "I have to…..settle some things in my own head before I can decide what else to do."

"I understand," Wade told him quietly, a lot of the vitality sapped from both their lives in the long weeks since Kim had died in what must have been hell on earth for her and Shego. There was a part of him that even felt sorry for Shego, too, knowing what she must have faced as the lair literally exploded around her and Kim in those final moments.

If they had even survived the initial devastation. From his own models, and Ron's description of the chaos, it was unlikely. He wasn't sure if he favored that conclusion, or simply wanted it to be that way so he wouldn't have to think if Kim facing any other kind of ending.

"Keep it," Wade told him when Ron impulsively started to hand over his own communicator. "Whatever you decide, just remember I'll always be here for you, too, Ron," he told him, putting a hand out to fold Ron's hand back over the device.

Ron was genuinely touched, because he knew Wade absolutely hated to be touched. Not that it was a phobia, or something. He just didn't like people touching him.

Ron tightened his grip on the 'Ron-Com,' and nodded. "Thanks, buddy. That means a lot," he said, and gave him a quick handshake.

"Take care of yourself," Wade told him as Ron turned to leave his room where he had been sheltered in seclusion without even turning on a single monitor since the funeral. The footage rerun on all stations, and across the web was too graphic for him to face just now. Especially when he understood all too well the reality those two women must have faced at the end.

"You, too," Ron told him. "Don't forget, Kim had a lot of enemies that might still like to come after us now that she's gone."

"I know. That's why I've upgraded the defenses around all our houses."

"Yeah. Thanks for that. Of course, my folks have Hana helping watch out for them."

"And the Drs. Possible have the twins," Wade remarked. "Still, I prefer not to take chances."

"Yeah," Ron nodded, his smile fading as he thought of some of the antics Kim used to rail about concerning her brothers.

Ron glanced back over his shoulder at the door, and nodded a final time. "Later, Wade. Gotta jet," he murmured before he disappeared.

"Yeah," Wade murmured as he left. "Yeah."

_**KP**_

Shego stared down at Kim on the bed, her frail body surrounded by breathing tubes and IVs, and frowned as she glanced at Senor Senior, Sr. when he came into the room. "I thought you would have sent her home by now. Or called someone."

"You aren't thinking clearly, my dear. You're obviously not fully recovered yourself yet if you don't understand the unique circumstances involved here."

"Look, I already told you, old man. She saved my green butt more than once out there, and I owe her."

"Of course. Of course," the old man agreed smoothly. "But the circumstances I'm referring to do not belittle your sense of honor. Or am I mistaken in assuming you do not wish to be sending Kimberly to her untimely death she survived her current injuries."

"What?"

"Think, my dear," he said, coming to stand at her side. "Right now, Miss Possible is completely helpless. From what my personal physician says, and he's very good by the way, she may likely never walk again. It's a certainty she will never again be the constant thorn in our collective sides considering the multiple injuries she has suffered, and which might yet claim her life."

"What's your point," she complained, not wanting to hear anything like that. Surely Kim was going to recover? Surely….

"My point, Shego. Is that if she is…..shall we say, resurrected as she is now…..we both know there are many nefarious elements in our own community that would not hesitate to go after her with less than honorable intentions. And as evil as I can be, even I would not be so vile as to strike a helpless opponent incapable of defending themselves. That would be….poor sportsmanship. While I am many things, I readily confess, I am not a poor sport."

"No," she admitted. "But you're about the only one."

"Precisely. Which leaves Miss Possible safest in her current anonymity if we are to keep her alive in spite of the recent rumors of her death. Or do you think handing her over to amateurs would best aid her at this point?"

"She's really that bad off," Shego asked, wearing borrowed blue slacks, and a green top taken from one of the men. Her own uniform had been nearly shredded after all she had gone through even before she spent three days bobbing in the ocean.

"Let me be honest, Shego," he sighed. "There is still a very good chance that the rumors of Kimberly's untimely end may yet come true."

"How bad is she? Really?"

"A broken back, obviously. Crushed pelvis. Internal injuries that necessitated the removal or repair of certain organs. Broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, and even multiple breaks in her legs, though she likely didn't _feel_ them. It did not help that she required a lengthy decompression before she could even be properly treated."

Shego said nothing as the old man just read off the list that even she might not have shrugged off too well in spite of her comet-powered metabolism. Kimmie might be tough, but Kim didn't have a freakish genetic healing factor, or superhuman strength. She was, at heart, still just a very gifted human being.

What she heard now might well be a death sentence. Especially if the wrong people found her in her current condition.

"The plus side, of course, is that no one is even looking for _you_," Senor Senior reminded her.

"I don't care about me," Shego snapped. "I can take care of myself."

"True. But if you truly wish to take care of Kimberly, doesn't being thought dead make it easier for you to slip away with her?"

"What's your angle, old man," she glowered at him from the corner of her eye.

"No angle, I assure you," he told her quickly, holding up both hands. "In fact, I wish to repay a certain debt that stands between us."

"I didn't think we….."

"Not you. I am referring to Miss Possible. I owe her for introducing Junior to his wife, and assuring this tired, old man that his lineage will continue after all."

"Doy! Those rumors are true? Junior….?"

"_Mrs_. Senior is expecting any day now. I left her and Junior in Rome to enjoy themselves before the child arrives while I took an impromptu cruise."

Shego eyed him knowingly.

"Well, that, and so I could intercept a certain ocean liner that was reported to have been carrying a small fortune in jewels to a certain Japanese businessman with….. Shall we say, questionable connections?"

"You're ripping off the Yakuza now? You do have guts_."_

"Hardly. I simply retrieved certain treasures taken from my own family that were unfortunately included in their illicit collection, and then suggested I might see fit to return the rest if a certain merger were to be approved."

"And they agreed?"

"Well, they would have lost a lot of face had I simply carried out my threat to drop the rest of the trove in the ocean in an undisclosed location. I doubt even their connections could have retrieved the veritable fortune they had invested in that collection from the bottom of the Pacific," the canny old man smirked. "Which would have caused quite a few unpleasant repercussions for certain local bosses."

"Whoa, and here I thought you were getting senile for a minute there."

"Hardly, my dear. So, what say you? Ready for a fresh, and anonymous start somewhere until you can at least be sure of Miss Possible's condition, or her eventual survival?"

"I wouldn't mind a vacation. Even a semi-working one," she said, realizing how much attention was likely going to be involved trying to take care of Kimmie just now. "But….I'm hardly the best person to be playing doctor….."

She stopped, blushing at how that might sound.

"Leave everything to me," Senor Senior waved dismissively, not even cracking a smile. "I just happen to own a certain elite resort island that caters to certain clientele that favor extreme discretion over connections. I can install you in a private villa I maintain on the far side of the island, and then be sure you have all the help, and the best medical care available. At least until we learn what Kimberly's future is actually going to entail."

"Okay. Okay, yeah, that sounds good. But what about your henchmen? Can you trust those guys? Jack's thugs aren't known for loyalty."

"Please, my dear. My men may be hired, but I pay them extra, and ensure they all have good family medical, and regular bonuses. They will not say a word."

Shego relaxed.

"So, I guess everything else is up to you, Princess," she said, and gently touched a red curl that seemed as limp and lifeless as the woman before her.

"Do not worry, Shego," the tycoon told her. "If anything can be done, it will be. Nor would I count her out just yet. We have both seen her rise back up from equally great odds before now."

"Thanks, Senior," she nodded. "I appreciate this."

"Not at all, my dear. As I said, I owe Miss Possible a great debt myself. It is my pleasure to repay her by assisting you in repaying your own debt. Villains of honor, after all, must set an example for others."

Shego did not even try to comment on that one_._

_Continued..._


	3. Chapter 3

_I do not own Kim Possible, or any Disney character named herein. This is a work of nonprofit fiction for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Redemption**

**By Twisted-Wun**

**3**

Shego stepped out on the porch and looked to the beach.

Predictably, the redhead was sitting out there staring out to sea.

Four weeks ago, Kim had finally come out of her virtual coma after three long months, having survived her injuries, operations, and all else to find herself confined to a wheelchair, her broken legs still healing, but already atrophying. What truly horrified her was that Kim couldn't feel anything below her waist any longer, and what she did feel had her in genuine agony. Then, too, for a few days after she first woke, she had tried constantly to convince Shego to let her call home.

Shego gave her the same argument Senior had given. After a few hours of screaming, crying, and outright begging, which even she knew sounded odd coming from her, Kim realized she was likely right. When she realized just how badly she was still hurt, and what she yet faced, she seemed to deflate as she accepted Shego's line of reasoning that staying hidden for now was best for the both of them, and especially Kim's loved ones.

Shego didn't bring her own family into it. Shego knew they were likely all glad she was apparently gone for good. She could just imagine how hated she must be right now if people thought she had helped bring down the great Kim Possible.

What she had not expected, however, was how Kim seemed to be just fading more and more each day until she seemed a mere shadow of her former self as she often even forgot to eat. Sometimes she didn't even bother to tend her own basic needs, and now spent more time sitting in her wheelchair on the beach than not, usually just staring vacantly out to sea. That was if she even got out of bed when given a choice.

As Shego watched her, she suddenly had an unnerving feeling that if her nurse wasn't with her, Kim might well have rolled that chair right down into the water.

Walking down to the beach, she nodded at the stocky woman that was Kim's now personal nurse and chaperone when Shego was busy, or sleeping, or just needed a break. The older woman walked away, and Shego moved to stand beside the somber redhead.

"You can't go on like this, Kimberly," she told her quietly.

"I don't really have much of a choice, do I," Kim remarked just as quietly without looking up at her.

"We both know what I'm talking about."

Kim said nothing as she took a shallow breath, and kept looking out to sea. "Why did you save me? You could have let me go anytime. You should have…."

"Even I'm not that heartless, Kimberly," she addressed her again without the usual nicknames. It just did not seem the time for such informality.

Kim sighed. "No. You just stuck me in a wheelchair, unable to do anything, and then left me marooned on a stupid island miles from everyone and everything I know."

"Kim…"

"I know. I get it. Bad guys doing bad things." She sighed again. "You should have left me in that cave."

Shego shook her head. "Tell me one thing."

Kim still didn't even look up.

"If things were reversed…. If I had been laying there in that lair about to be buried and broiled alive in lava, would you have left me?"

Kim sighed. Very heavily.

"No," she finally said so quietly that anyone else might have missed it.

"Besides. If I hadn't brought you along, we'd _both_ be dead by now, since I might not have figured out how to get out of that stupid tunneler in time."

"I hate this, Shego," Kim finally told her after a long silence. "You can't know how much I hate this."

Shego put a light hand on her right shoulder, conscious her left collarbone was still fragile. "Yes, I do. Yes, I can. I wish I could do more for you, Kimberly. I really do. I owe you my life, and I am really grateful. Gah, and gratitude's not something I do well."

Kim managed a weak smile when she finally looked up at her, but both of them knew it was false.

"The point is, I haven't given up. Have you?"

"_You're_ not in a wheelchair."

Shego growled. "Look," she said, walking around to kneel in front of her. "Half the world has problems. Some are worse than yours. If you would just…..buck up, and try to see the good left for you….."

Kim stared at her as Shego knelt in front of her, frowning at the green-skinned woman that now dressed far more casually for the tropical climate. Usually in just bathing suits, but at the moment, she was wearing an ivory blouse with a dark green skirt.

"Are you…..trying to cheer me up," she finally asked her incredulously.

"Well….. Is it working," Shego asked with a guarded smile.

"No," Kim stated bluntly. "But…..I'm curious. Why even bother? Shouldn't you be running off to gloat, or something?"

"I'm evil, Kimmie," she huffed indignantly. "Not twisted. And I'll bet you haven't even gotten around to figuring out how we got here. Or how we even afford all this primo care," she gestured back toward the private villa with everything a disabled heroine in seclusion could want for her care and treatment.

Kim frowned. "I haven't gotten around to thinking too much about anything. I just….wanted to go home. To see…..my family, and….."

She started crying, and blurted out, "Only now we can't get married. Even if I go back, I…. I'm…"

"Hey, you're still alive. I'm sure your sidekick…. Uh, boyfriend…. Whatever. I'm sure he'd be glad to see you once you're strong enough to…..to…."

"I can still read, Shego. I read the charts that first week I woke up. I can't have _children_ any more. I probably won't ever be able to walk again. Not with three crushed disks, and a shattered pelvis. I'm…..useless. _Damaged goods_."

Shego frowned, unaccountably stricken by Kim using a phrase her own brother had dropped on her own head more than once. If for different reasons.

"Why would you say that?"

"Look at me," Kim wailed, and continued to cry.

"Kimberly," she said quietly, leaning forward to gently take the hands Kim had raised to cover her face, gently pulling them down. "You're a lot of things, Kimberly. But damaged goods is _not_ one of them."

"Why…..? Why are you being so nice to me?"

"You think I can't do nice?"

"I think you'd rather gargle acid," Kim grit out curtly.

Shego smiled crookedly. "Yeah, well, ordinarily….? Maybe. But I do owe you. And I take my debts seriously. We're both still alive because of you, Kimmie. You couldn't move. You couldn't save yourself. You couldn't _do_ anything. Yet you never lost your head. You stayed cool, and you used your brains. Don't you think you can still do that? Can't that Possible spirit figure out how to make even this work, ah, sitch to your advantage?"

Kim said nothing as Shego released her hands, and slowly stood up. "Hey, seriously. You have a preference for lunch?"

"Whatever you want," she murmured as Shego stepped away and around her chair.

"Just let me know. I'll make anything you like."

Kim remained silent now.

Shego sighed, and started to walk away.

"Shego?"

"Yeah, Kim?"

"Thanks. For trying, I mean. Thanks."

_Trying what_, Shego wondered as Kim fell back into a mood she knew by now that meant talking was done, and the redhead was going to be silent again for the next indefinable period. She still wasn't sure what to make for lunch, but she noted the younger woman seemed to prefer simple fare, so went back to make a casserole after sending Maxine, the nurse Senor had found, back to Kim's side.

_**KP**_

Kim yawned as she woke, sat up carefully, and eyed the wheelchair that had become the bane of her existence of late.

She glanced at a clock she rarely used, sighing when she noted it wasn't even five yet. Another early morning, it seemed. At least her back and left hip wasn't aching like she had been kicked in the groin this morning. She had thought those pains meant she might yet regain some mobility. The last doctor she had seen had put an end to that hope.

While he had been able to replace the three shattered disks in her lower back, the ceramic replacements could do nothing about the nerve damage. The jigsaw puzzle that had been her pelvis didn't help. She had insisted on seeing the x-rays herself, and with her mom's background in medicine guiding her, she had realized that even if she got on her feet right now, today, that fragile bone would never survive even the lightest workout.

It was after that realization that Kim realized that her days as a 'teen hero' were genuinely over. Her days as a hero, period, were done.

Reaching for her robe now, knowing she was not going to be going back to sleep, and being just restless enough to not want to lay there in her bed waiting on Shego, or that surly nurse to come for her. She carefully maneuvered toward the edge of the bed, dragging her dead limbs as she reached, and then levered herself into nearby chair, and then carefully lowered her legs onto the supports before settling her robe around her to afford her a little more modesty.

Not really hungry, no surprise there since her metabolism seemed to have slowed to a crawl, she rolled herself out to the den where Shego had installed a state of the art entertainment center. She ignored all of that, and went over to the computer.

Switching it on, she considered not for the first time trying to break Shego's security to send out a message to her folks. To Ron. To anyone that knew her.

She found she was staring at the screen a long time as she mulled that over, knowing that whatever happened, she would not be going home to anything.

Not to Ron.

Not to the future they had envisioned.

Not to any future she could have ever imagined.

She sighed, and switched on the homepage, and sifted the morning news.

And stopped to gape at one headline.

"_Five Injured in Latest Attack on Fallen Heroine's Home_!"

Kim frowned as she clicked on the link, and read for the first time how a series of attacks on her family of late were being foiled either by her family's own technological marvels, or Wade's safeguards. This time, the attackers had come when Ron was visiting, and the monkey-master who was apparently carrying on their heroic tradition put five men in the hospital with the aid of a new partner she recognized at once when she saw the photo of her standing beside a somber Ron Stoppable with GJ agents dragging Henchco thugs away in the background.

Yori.

She remembered the young, ninja girl who had always crushed on Ron, and remembered that first spurt of jealousy she had suffered when she realized Ron might not be as unpopular as most thought.

She read of Ron's new Team Possible, which still carried her named, and now operated under the direct authority of Global Justice . It was like her dream come true. Only she wasn't living it. Ron was. Ron, and Yori.

She found herself actually smiling in spite of her sadness as she sifted the news for related articles. She was smiling, because every article suggested Ron Stoppable was every inch the hero his 'mentor' had been, and that he had a very capable 'sidekick' in the young ninja that was apparently content to follow in his wake.

As Ron had been back at the start.

Her sadness was nothing new. She had already realized her old life was forever gone. Even if she went back now, she'd only be a burden. They had obviously mourned her, and moved one. They were making something of their lives. They were doing something that honored her, too. Only if she went back now, she undermined that inspiration, and gave those fruitcakes a larger target to go after.

And she wouldn't be able to do a thing to stop them.

Not now.

Maybe not ever.

It was, she realized in that very defining moment as she read of Ron's heroics over the past months as she had been sitting and mourning a past, and a hoped-for future that was far beyond her reach, time to move on. It was time that Kim Possible grew up.

She switched off the computer, and rolled over to her usual spot to stare out the open glass door that led to the deck where she often watched the sunsets now. She rolled out there now, and looked out at the faintly colored sky, and noted the brilliant haze coming from the eastern side of the horizon that wasn't quite visible from here.

"It's going to storm," Shego murmured as she stepped outside, and stood beside her. "You should come back inside."

"I noticed," Kim murmured, smiling up at her.

"What?"

"I think I finally get it," she told her.

"Get….what," Shego asked suspiciously, months of a moping, silent ghost that had replaced her longtime nemesis still plaguing her own sense of guilt in her apparently still thriving conscience.

"I saw Ron on the news this morning," she said, looking back up at the darkly colored sky. "I had this image….. It's stupid, but….. I thought he was just out there sitting and waiting for me. Waiting for, I don't know…..something. Only he's moved on. He's still fighting, and he's building himself a good life. Even my folks are moving on."

"That's, ah, good to hear," Shego nodded, feeling just a little surprised by her reaction. She had been trying to censor the news from her hometown because she was afraid it might push the melancholy redhead even closer to the proverbial edge.

"Yes, it is," Kim nodded, and smiled at her again.

"Uh, Kimberly, why do you keep giving me that look?"

"Well, I finally get it. We're the only two that haven't moved on, Shego. Time has pretty much stood still for us out here."

"And…..is that good, or bad," she asked her guardedly.

"Hmmm. I honestly don't know," she quipped. "But, I think it's time I moved on. That I started thinking about what to do with the rest of my life."

"Well, you do have another doctor's visit to look forward to this week," Shego reminded her.

"Oh, goody. You know, I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed with Senor Senior's ability to find people that can do what they're doing for us, and still keep their mouth shut. I would have figured that someone would have sold the story by now."

"You obviously don't know Senor Senior very well," Shego grinned. "One, he pays well. _Very_ well. Then, too, the last guy to violate the confidentiality he demanded…..disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Let's just say no one has ever seen him again. Anywhere."

"Right," Kim nodded. "Got you."

"So, what else is on your mind this morning? I know that look, even if I haven't seen it in a while," Shego smiled back at her now. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking….. You need to move on, too, Shego," she told her.

Shego blinked. Frowning as she eyed her, and shook her head.

"Okay, you just lost me again. What are you thinking of doing?"

"Me? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I came to the conclusion that if I really can stay here until I figure out my options, I will. But you don't have to be here any more, Shego. You saved me. You got me back on my feet, ah, so to speak. You should have a chance to go rebuild your own life, too. You shouldn't have to stay here…"

Kim fell silently when Shego leaned down and put a finger to her lips.

"Not happening, Possible. Think about my side of the equation for a moment. First, Drakken's in a nuthouse, and not likely to be getting out. Ever. Even if he did, I'm thinking I'm pretty much over the whole bad girl act. It's not like it used to be. It was over even before that last fiasco he created that landed us here."

"But, Shego….."

"Bup, bup, bup," Shego stopped her again. "Still talking."

Kim gave a faint hiccup of a laugh, and Shego wanted to cheer. It was the first sign of real emotion out of her in so long that it was like Kim had been asleep all this time, and suddenly woke up.

"There is also the fact you really do need someone to watch you. Not just a nurse. Suppose someone did stumble across our little paradise out here? How long do you think you could hold them off?"

"I think we both know the answer to that one," Kim sighed.

"Bingo. So, not only do I have the advantage of an extended, and very well paid vacation by our mutual benefactor, but I don't have to worry about Dr. Dimwit's plans blowing up in my face. That one-eyed harpy showing up to crow in my cell, if I were caught. Or anything else. All I have to do is sit on my very shapely butt, and watch you. It's a dream job and vacation rolled up into one. So, tell me, Princess," she dared call her for the first time in a long time, "Why would anyone want to bail out on such a cushy job?"

"Are you serious," Kim sputtered, not even taking note of the once-familiar nickname Shego had used.

"C'mon, Kimmie," she said, probing her reaction again. "After that very close call we had, I had my own personal wakeup call. I retired the minute Senor Senior's men dragged us out of the ocean. I am not going back. Ever. So, you can just stop trying to kick me out of paradise, because…. Nope. I'm not going."

Kim laughed openly now.

"You're still nuts," Kim chided her. "Don't you even want to try to reassure your brothers you're all right?"

"Kim," she sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We both know Hego probably through a party the day they heard I, ah, went down in flames."

"I doubt that," she told him. "I'm pretty sure he still cares about you. He's just…."

"Disappointed I bailed on the whole hero scene. I got it. I got it the first five hundred lectures he gave me. Honestly, though, Kim," Shego told her. "He's probably glad I'm not around to tarnish the Go name any longer."

"I still think you're wrong about that."

"Yeah? Well, I see you're still a busybody," Shego grinned, and patted her head. "Now, let's get inside before those clouds forming up on the horizon drench us. How's fruit salad for breakfast sound?"

"Perfect," Kim assured her.

"Fruit salad it is," she said, pushing Kim through the door even as the first sounds of thunder rumbled on the horizon.

"Looks like the beach is out today," Kim sighed.

Shego only chuckled.

**KP**

Kim cried out as she suddenly slipped, and went down under the water. Her hands scrabbled at the slick, wet tile of the built-in, and oversized hot tub, but she couldn't grab any purchase as she tried in vain to push herself back up. She was too tense too float, and her legs too limp and too heavy to help.

She splashed, and gasped, but only managed to sink deeper into the pool until suddenly a strong hand gripped her hair, and tugged her back up to the side of the deck to set her down there as she choked and sputtered, coughing up the water that almost filled her lungs.

"I thought you were over that self-destructive phase," Shego shouted angrily as she sank to her knees to hug her fiercely in an inane mixture of reactions.

"Wasn't…..purpose," Kim rasped. "I slipped."

"Where was Maxine?"

Kim shook her head, still trying to suck air in replace the water.

"If she went off to get drunk again….."

"She drinks?"

"Like a fish. It's why she can't a get a legit job. Damn it, I thought she was doing all right here, too. I should fire her ass. Literally," she hissed, one hand flaring with green flame as she looked around the moonlit deck where Shego had let her come out to relax. Her eyes indicated she was really hoping to find the nurse just then.

"I'm all right, Shego. Besides, I'm sure she didn't leave me on purpose. I thought I was able to handle myself just sitting on the shallow end, and we both thought you would be right out. I was wrong."

Shego stared at her, shaking her head. "God, Possible. What am I going to do with you?"

Kim smiled weakly up at her. "Well, you just saved my life again, so by now we're surely even. You can go now," she suggested.

"Oh, no. We already had this conversation a year ago. Besides, that does so not count. Not compared to what you did."

"But….."

"Nope. Not happening. I'm still here. You're going to have to deal."

"You never have said why you're really being so nice to me. I mean, I thought you hated me."

"No. Not that," Shego said quietly. "Never that."

"Then….?"

Kim found herself sitting there on the wet marble at the edge of the pool, looking into dark green eyes as Shego sat down next to her, and only then did something click.

"Oh_. Oh_! Oh, wow. I can't believe… Shego?"

Shego smiled. "Yeah, Kimmie?"

"Are you…..uhm, like _that_?"

Shego's head dropped, and slowly shook.

"I cannot believe you asked me that," she said gruffly.

"I'm sorry. It's just….I suddenly thought….? That you…..? That I….. That….. Okay, I'm shutting up now," she said through a dark blush, and stared at her withered limbs dangling in the water. Thin and spindly, they had seemed unnaturally heavy when she was sliding down into the deep end of the pool. Her skimpy bikini did not show her off to any advantage. Which was why she really rather disliked it. Only Shego bought it, and so she had to wear it.

They sat silently under the night sky for a time after Shego moved to sit beside her. Finally, she glanced over to look at Kim, who was looking right at her, and sighed. "Look. Ah, Kimberly….."

"Yes?"

"The fact is…..if you _need_ a label, then I'm bi. I like boys, _and_ girls."

"Oh. Okay."

"So. You're not going to…..freak out, or anything?" "No. No, I think it's…..cool. So. Do you….?"

"Gah," Shego gasped, and shook her head. "Are you wanting to ask if I'm crushing on you?"

"Well….."

"Look. I admire you. I respect you. I even like you. A little. Okay, maybe a lot. But….."

She turned even as Kim's hand rose, and suddenly she was pulled right into a kiss that left the green-skinned woman blushing dark green.

"Why did you do that," Shego sputtered.

Kim only smiled.

"That was thank you. For everything. I've always admired you, too, Shego," she told her earnestly. "In fact, after we started fighting, I used to look forward to you breaking out, because I always felt…..so alive…..when we faced off. Who knows, maybe if things had turned out different…..?"

"Don't give up hope yet, Princess. The old man is still vetting a few experts out there. Maybe one of them will show up with good news yet."

"That'd be nice. But….I'm trying to be realistic."

"I know. I know," Shego nodded, and found it very easy to lean toward her, their arms embracing as they sat on the edge of the hot tub, simply staring at the sky together.

"You know what I really hate?"

"What's that?"

Kim sighed. "I used to love to swim. Now I can't even stay afloat in a hot tub."

Shego sighed, and turned to eye her.

"How about if I hold you on the bench so you don't slide down this time?"

"That would be nice," Kim agreed, and relaxed into her arms as Shego scooped her up, carefully eased into the hot tub so she could sit down on the inset bench on one side, and settled Kim into the water on her lap.

"How's that?"

"Nice."

"Not as nice as you, Princess," Shego murmured, and stroked her dark red hair still sodden from her earlier plunge.

Kim said nothing as she lay her head on Shego's shoulder.

"I think I'm going to miss this," Kim murmured, not moving.

"I already told you I'm not going any….."

"I meant when I'm gone," Kim told her quietly.

Shego found she had absolutely nothing to say to that as she only tightened her hold on the woman.

_Continued…_


	4. Chapter 4

_I do not own Kim Possible, or any Disney character named herein. This is a work of nonprofit fiction for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Redemption**

**By Twisted-Wun**

**4**

Kim was still sitting in front of the computer when Shego approached her that afternoon. It had been almost three years since the volcano. Three years of healing, therapy, and a tsunami that had left the two women the only inhabitants of the island after the far side, and the resort, took the brunt of the wave. They were still not sure it was a natural tidal surge considering the recent villain activity at the time.

"What's so interesting today, Princess," Shego asked as she came up beside Kim and put a hand on her shoulder, the two women now familiar and easy with the casual intimacy that had slowly grown between them.

Kim gestured without a word, and Shego leaned over to see Stoppable's still familiar face smiling as he stood beside a lean, Japanese girl in traditional wedding dress for a girl of her legacy. '_Local Hero Weds Childhood Sweetheart_,' the banner crowed over the local GNN website. Global News Network all but devoted their entire site to the Stoppable wedding that mangled Jewish and Japanese rituals to make for a truly unique marriage.

There were images of the family. The guests. Even Kim's parents and brothers were there, the latter looking much taller and more mature than she recalled. She had been astonished when she realized even Wade was standing beside the groom in one shot, apparently the best man, looking taller and fitter than he had ever been before in her memory.

"You okay," Shego asked, noting Kim was mentioned in a sidebar that was barely three sentences long, describing her as a fallen hero, and the once best friend of the apparent new champion of Justice Ron Stoppable.

"Yes," she murmured, just staring in a daze. "I…. I knew he had to move on. That he had…. That he… I just never thought….."

"We may be standing still, Pumpkin, but the rest of the world isn't," she reminded her.

"No. It isn't," Kim said, and looked up at her. "Do you ever think about…..going back? I mean, I'm fine. Well, as fine as I can be. You really don't have to stay here any longer, and….."

"Kimmie," Shego stopped her. "I think we've already established I don't go anywhere I don't want to be. Don't you think the fact I'm still here after all of your temper-tantrums should tell you something?"

Kim smiled now.

"That you're an indolent hedonist, exploiting a good thing for as long as you can?"

"Oh, you are so going to pay for that one," Shego mock growled as she spun her wheelchair around to face her.

Kim only smiled. Less than innocently. Still, they both knew the sadness never quite left her eyes as Shego leaned down to lightly kiss her.

"How does a picnic lunch on the beach sound?"

"Sounds heavenly," she agreed. "Still, it's kind of funny."

"What is, Princess," Shego asked her, pointedly rolling her away from the computer so she wouldn't obsess over that news the way she tended to do at times.

"Well, it's been over three years, and not one person has found us here. Not one. Even I'm kind of surprised at that one."

"Never discount a billionaire's security. Not everyone was as good as you and Stoppable at sneaking into places."

"Not even you?"

"Apples and oranges, Pumpkin," she growled at her as she pushed her into the kitchen to keep her company while she prepared their picnic meal.

Kim only laughed at her.

Shego, who knew what she was still facing, forced herself to smile back.

**KP**

Bonnie found her first.

Looking over some of the financial reports Junior was absolutely useless at handling when his father was away, she found a portfolio that had been blatantly hidden away. With it, she also found a number of curious expenditures that had nothing to do with the Seniors legitimate businesses, or her twisted father-in-law's 'hobby.' She started investigating, and realized two things almost immediately.

First, that the old man was hiding someone that had been seriously injured, and had obviously yet to fully recover from the supplies being shipped in secret. Second, that it was obviously someone that he liked well enough to keep them on a private island he had purchased outright, and kept well off the usual books.

Considering that she knew the old man could count the people he liked and respected on one hand, it made Bonnie more than a little curious.

And worried.

Was it a secret heir? Someone that might step in and take everything away from her?

And Junior, of course.

She did a little poking around, and found the island used to be a very, very, very exclusive resort for the kinds of people that had lots of money, and usually dubious connections to certain activities. Not quite a year ago, a tidal wave, or earthquake, or something had wiped out the resort. The resort wasn't rebuilt. The money kept flowing all the same.

Now more than a little curious, Bonnie decided it was time for a field trip.

Leaving Junior distracted with a new set of anatomically correct 'action figures' of his newest boy band crush, she took one of the old man's power boats she could operate as well as he could, and headed for the coordinates, which, surprisingly, weren't that far from the Senior's private island in the Pacific. She would have taken a helicopter, but she had not quite mastered flight yet. That, and you never knew what kind of air defenses some of these places had. A small boat was more likely to slip in unnoticed. She had learned that much from listening to Stoppable and Junior's tales of the 'old days' every time they met up when Junior tried yet another ill-advised scheme trying to impress his father.

Five hours later, she beached her boat, and stepped onto the island. She spent another three hours fruitlessly investigating the rubble left by the devastated resort yet to be fully cleared away. It told her nothing. No one had been here since the place had been leveled.

But something was going on out here. She was positive of that. The kind of money coming to this place didn't just vanish into a jungle. So, what was it?

A new plot being hatched? A new lair being built? But where, and why? The old man usually let her vet most of his schemes these days, impressed by her appreciation for his avocation. So what was he hiding?

Just before dusk, she climbed into the boat, and began a slow circuit around the island to get the lay of the land. Just now, a helicopter might make such a search easier, but she still wasn't certain about potential defenses. Even she knew the most innocuous of settings could contain the most nefarious of traps in the world she now inhabited.

Halfway around the island, she powered down the engines, and stared hard at the shore.

She was positive she had seen a flicker of light.

Spinning the wheel, she slowly reversed her course, and approached the beach.

"I knew it," she smiled, seeing the light between the trees just beyond the beach that seemed to flicker because her movement made it appear and disappear behind the lush, jungle growth.

Beaching her craft once again, she stepped off the boat, and reached for a powerful taser she slid into her waistband beneath her blouse, and then headed into the jungle even as the sun set behind the far horizon. That light in the jungle stood out like a beacon now, drawing her through the dark jungle as she moved slowly. Carefully.

She was almost to the source when she heard music.

And faint singing.

The voice, she had to admit, was sad, yet angelic.

What was going on here?

Moving closer, she realized the light came from the windows of a modest, but comfortable villa that had been built right in the heart of a virgin tropical jungle. She moved closer, wary of any traps, and surprised she wasn't finding them.

She reached the first step onto the porch where a single chair was positioned where the watcher could see the beach, and heard the singing stop as someone applauded.

Vigorously.

"Hey, be honest. I'm not _that_ good," a voice sputtered in protest, and Bonnie felt ice trace every inch of her spine.

"_No way_," she murmured almost inaudibly as she stepped onto the porch.

And yelped as the porch light suddenly flared into blinding life, even as a laser grid surrounded her before she could take a step in any direction.

Trapped!

She should have known.

She was still trying to determine an escape plan when a face appeared at the door. A startlingly familiar face that made her shock only deepen.

"_You_," Bonnie hissed, staring at the green-skinned woman in a pale ivory blouse with a dark green skirt.

"Who is it, Emmie," that other maddeningly familiar voice called.

"Just Junior's wife. Guess she let her nosiness finally get the better of her."

"Told you," a smug voice replied. "Invite her in. We haven't had company in ages."

"You sure, Princess?"

"What's she going to do? Beat _you_ up?"

"Brat," Shego growled, but pointed a remote at her, making Bonnie cringe.

All that happened was the deactivation of the laser field.

"Well, you heard the royal pain. Come on in, _Mrs. Senior_."

Bonnie heard the disdain in the woman's voice, and frowned. While everyone knew about Shego, how could the allegedly deceased felon know anything about her? Or care?

"Aren't you supposed to be dead," she finally asked the older woman as she carefully climbed the steps as Shego stepped back to open the screen door, gesturing expansively.

"Aren't you supposed to be happily married," Shego retorted.

"Who says I'm not?"

"To _Junior_," Shego snorted. "Please, even I know that boy doesn't have a clue when it comes to women. How you even got pregnant has got to be the mystery of the ages."

"Amen," added the redhead in the wheelchair that appeared out of another room just as Bonnie entered the house. "Hi, Bonnie," she then smiled, and nodded as she steered the chair into the room to position herself near a couch. "Have a seat? Would you liked something to eat? Drink?"

"Okay, now I know _you're_ supposed to be dead," she sputtered, simply standing and staring at her long ago nemesis from high school.

"You're almost right," Kim told her with a melancholy smile.

"Okay, so you survived. I get that. But….why aren't you back home milking the fame and sympathy? I mean, I know your folks were really devastated by your….uh, death. Even Stoppable almost came apart. He almost _killed_ half your bad guys hunting them down that first year, he was so amped. Not that I was that concerned about….._those_ people," she said gruffly.

Just her husband, who had the poor sense to try a silly scheme just when Ron was taking his inner ninja to new levels.

"I heard about it," Kim murmured, but said no more.

"And you never said anything? Never let anyone know….?"

"Hey, slow down, queen-bee."

"What," Bonnie demanded, eyeing Shego suspiciously as the words conjured images of a misadventure she would still rather forget.

"She's protective, Bonnie. Now sit down, and we'll explain."

"Please do," she huffed as she sat down on the end of the couch well away from Kim.

And especially Shego.

"Refreshments," Kim asked.

"Answers," Bonnie snipped curtly.

"Kim…."

"Let it go, Emmie. I guess some things, or some people, really haven't changed," Kim said quietly as Shego put a hand on her shoulder as she moved to stand beside her.

"Can I get you something?"

Bonnie was stunned yet again by the genuine concern in the green-skinned woman's manner. She, who was used to feigning such things, could still spot the real thing. And it was there.

"Tea? I get the feeling this will be a long, thirsty night," Kim smiled up at her.

"You bet, Princess."

"What are you, like lovers, or something?"

"Or something," Kim shrugged as Shego headed for the kitchen. She shifted her body and chair to better look at her former peer. "Just tell me one thing. How did you find us here?"

"It wasn't easy," she growled the admission. "But I knew the old man was hiding something. I just didn't think it was….."

"Me," Kim asked as Bonnie trailed off with a careless gesture around her. "Well, yeah. I'm still surprised at how nice he's been myself. But Senor Senior was always the gentleman. Even at his worst."

"True," Bonnie frowned. "So, he's not…..holding you hostage, or anything…..villainous?"

Kim laughed. "Far from it. He saved our lives. After Shego saved my life. But I'm getting ahead of myself."

"And leaving a lot out," Shego told her as she returned to set a tray across Kim's chair that set a steaming tea cup, with a few pastries on it before her.

"Thought you'd get hungry, since you didn't eat that much tonight."

"I told you. I wasn't that hungry today."

Bonnie might be sardonic, self-centered, and at times bitter, but she wasn't slow. Shego was really worried.

About Kim?

"I'm fine," Kim smiled. "Don't fret so much."

"I can't help it."

"Well, don't," she said, and lifted the tea to sip from the steaming cup. "Good," she sighed, and beamed at Shego. "Just the right amount of honey. Thanks."

Shego actually blushed.

"I'm actually on a schedule here," Bonnie cut in, growing more uncomfortable at the careless intimacy between the two.

"Yeah, yeah. So you can always….."

"Emmie," Kim chided her gently as she set her cup down. "We always knew this day would come. Or this night," she grinned with an ironic glance at the darkness beyond their door. "Anyway, I'm going to explain, Bonnie. I hope you will realize we do have valid reasons for laying low."

"I'm listening."

"It started after I faced Drew…. Dr. Drakken that last time," she said after a moment, and began her story. Interrupted often by Shego who filled in things that Kim predictably glossed over, or blatantly ignored. Things that told Bonnie that the pale, thin redhead really had not changed all that much after all.

Finally, after almost two hours, Kim fell silent. "And….here I am," she said quietly at the end, obviously drained as she slumped in her chair now, ignoring the food and fresh tea Shego had been surreptitiously trying to feed her the whole time.

"All right, I can see how you might have been worried about reprisals at the start," Bonnie finally nodded as she frowned at the woman who had once been known for pulling off the impossible on a daily basis. "But what about now? You're alive, most of your old enemies are gone, or even forgotten. Why don't you…..?"

"I couldn't do that, Bonnie," she said quietly. "For one, not all of our enemies are gone. And I couldn't put my family and friends through fresh grief."

"Fresh….? But you're _alive_," she protested.

"Actually," she told her with a faint smile. "I'm dying."

Bonnie looked genuinely stricken now. "_Dying_? But….you survived….? You….?"

"Long-term effects," Kim smiled. "Too many….mishaps back in the day. Added to too many injuries at the last. They all combined, and the last physical was undeniable. I'm definitely dying. Slowly, but inevitably. I think the last doctor only gave me another year. If that."

Shego only gave a quiet sniff, but said nothing.

Bonnie just stared.

"Kim….? If you're dying….? Why….? Why not spend your last moments…..?"

"I told you, Bonnie. They have already suffered once. That's enough. I couldn't put them through that again. Now when they're moving on with their lives, and have accepted what they think already happened. Besides, there is still the very real danger my presence would only bring back some of those villains that do remember me. Or even inspire some new ones looking for a rep."

"Yeah. I guess I can see that," she murmured quietly, and looked from Shego to Kim, and back again.

"And you just…..stayed here with her? Are you dying, too?"

"No," Shego said quietly, ignoring her caustic tone. "At least…..not physically," she added quietly with a sad smile.

"Emmie," Kim chided her.

"Oh, right. Senor told me about your freaky healing thingy. Too bad you couldn't give Kim some of that," she said carelessly.

"Yeah. Too bad," Shego agreed with a strange look in her eyes at those words.

"Guys, I'm _really_ tired," Kim cut in. "So, if you don't mind, how about I retire, and you two can chat some more if you want."

"I'll help….."

"I'm not dead yet," Kim stopped Shego as she turned her chair. "Besides, it would be rude to leave our only guest in years alone just to put me to bed."

Bonnie stared at the proud, stubborn creature who had apparently not changed that much herself.

"Still stubborn, huh?"

"Oh, yeah," Shego murmured, staring after Kim who rolled down the hall without looking back.

"So. What will you do….after?"

Shego jerked her gaze from the hall to the brunette, her eyes round with misery. And indignation.

"Sorry. I was just…."

"Just why did you come here, Mrs. Senior," Shego asked her. "The truth, if you don't mind, because believe me, I may be out of the game, but I can still spot a lie a mile off."

"I found the old man's secret books. It struck me odd he was funding something on a supposedly deserted island. I was curious, so I came to have a look," she said with a shrug.

"You are a sneaky one," Shego smiled thinly. "I guess you make a good wife for Junior after all."

"Please," Bonnie huffed. "A blow-up doll would be all he needs."

Shego only smirked, recalling a few of her own misadventures with that loopy kid. "Tell me about it," she finally said. "Now, tell me this. Are you going to keep our secret?" Bonnie got the feeling her life hung in the balance with her answer. Literally.

"Yes," she finally nodded. "I'll admit that me and K never really got along, but…..I always secretly admired her. Envied her, actually," she smiled very, very faintly. "I mean, she was the _real_ golden girl. She could do no wrong while she did….literally everything. Even when she screwed up, she was amazing. I mean, how do you compete with….perfection," she said quietly, and glanced toward the hall.

"Yeah," Shego murmured. "I love her, too."

"I do not….."

Shego just gave her a glance that suggested she not finish.

"Okay. So I envied her. Was a little….jealous of her. It's not like…."

Shego only eyed her.

"I'm not gay."

"Neither am I, Bon-Bon," Shego drawled, suggesting that Kim had shared a few stories of her own with the woman. "Not like you mean it."

"But you….? She….?"

"Labels don't mean that much to us," Shego finally told her. "Just remember. You agreed to keep our secret. If I ever find out you lied? That you said anything to anyone? There won't be any place on the planet you can hide from me, Bon-Bon," she called her. "I'll make your kid an orphan. I swear I will."

"Don't worry. Who'd believe me? And….why bother? Honestly, I kind of feel sorry for her. She had everything going for her, and now she's….. She's just sitting here dying? It just seems…..wrong."

"I know," Shego said, sitting back in her own seat, and sighing heavily.

"So, isn't there some kind of villainous machine, or ray, or….something that you could use on her? Something to help her?"

"So, you do care," Shego smirked.

"I just think….. I don't like death," she said with a shudder, having seen too much of it when the aliens attacked that year they graduated.

For a time she was lost in denial. Focusing on the good things in life. The positive things. Yet at the end of the day, many of her friends were still dead, or severely injured. Her mother was still missing, and her sister Lonnie wasn't quite so pretty any more. Even Connie had changed. The brunette had flung herself into medical science with a vengeance, but couldn't seem to heal her own grief.

"None of us do," Shego murmured. "And if there were something money could buy, or someone could steal, trust me, Senior, Sr. would have had it brought to us by now."

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess he would."

Then she had a thought. "What about Stoppable. He's….got that weird magic, or something. Maybe he could….."

"She ordered me to swear never to contact him. Ever."

"Oh," Bonnie frowned, not liking that she was shot down.

"Besides, she told me there wasn't anything he could do either. Mystical monkey power doesn't work on third parties."

"Mystical…..?"

"It's another long story," Shego sighed. "So, you hungry yet? Or do you plan to take off now?"

She eyed the darkness through the door, and sighed. "I'm not really hungry. Still, I'll wait till dawn, if you don't mind. I'd rather not have to go out on that sea at night."

"That's probably best."

"Do you think she'd mind if I…..visited again?"

"I think she'd like it," Shego told her.

"Uhm, one thing, though. Emmie? I thought your name was…."

"It's a private thing," she told her quietly.

Bonnie nodded as if understanding. Maybe she even did.

_Continued…._


	5. Chapter 5

_I do not own Kim Possible, or any Disney character named herein. This is a work of nonprofit fiction for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Redemption**

**By Twisted-Wun**

_**5**_

"Is she gone," Kim asked when she woke late the next morning, and Shego came to help her wash, and dress for the day.

"She left just after dawn. She said she might come back for another visit if you don't mind."

"That's nice," Kim sighed, finding it strange she would look forward to a visit from Bonnie Rockwaller, of all people.

Actually, Bonnie Senior, apparently.

"Kim, I was thinking…."

"Uh-oh."

"Funny," she growled at her charge as she helped her into the wheelchair that was by her bed.

"I'm sorry," she smiled at her. "What's on your mind now, Emmie?"

"Something your friend said."

"Bonnie? _Bonnie_ made you _think_? Wow, miracles do happen."

"You're not changing the subject this time, Kimmie. Just hear me out."

"All right. Shoot," she smiled weakly as Shego rolled her toward the kitchen once she was ready. She could already tell the aroma of fresh coffee still filled the air.

Shego was used to Kim rising late at times, so she always had something fresh waiting later in the day for her.

"Remember when she mentioned my healing factor?"

"Oh. Did she?"

"Yes. You were pretty sleepy by then. But she suggested I…..share it with you."

"I didn't think that was possible. Genetic incompatibility, extra-physical mutation, and all that?"

"There….._might_ be a way. I had almost forgotten about it to be honest. Still… It's…. It's risky, but…..would you consider trying it if I could arrange it?"

"Arrange what," she asked the woman quietly, not quite ready to hope again after so long.

"It goes back to the early days of Team Go," Shego told her. "The history that no one knows about. Except for me and my brothers."

Kim waited quietly as she Shego seemed to need to gather her thoughts.

"Do you think it might really help," Kim finally asked when Shego seemed to be staying quiet too long.

"Kim, I'm serious. It's very risky."

"Riskier than sitting here waiting to die," Kim asked her pointedly.

"It could kill you outright," Shego finally admitted.

"Oh."

"So, there is a chance. A slight chance. But, it could also kill you outright."

"So, I have a choice of sitting here waiting to see when I die, or risking it all tomorrow."

"Pretty much," Shego nodded grimly.

"I'll risk it," Kim told her without hesitation. "What do I do?"

"It's…..complicated."

Kim had to laugh now.

"It always is with us, isn't it," she asked as Shego set her breakfast before her, and let her start eating.

"Kim….."

"Tell me everything," Kim asked her quietly, and just waiting for her to gather her thoughts as Shego poured herself a fresh cup of coffee, and sit down next to her as she watched her eat.

"I have to tell you everything, from the start, so you'll understand the risks," she told her as she finally nodded, and began to talk.

Kim listened to every word.

_**KP**_

Shego arranged for Bonnie to be there to watch her while she was away.

After she arranged for Senor Senior's help, who proved remarkably cooperative in acquiring a small stealth-jet for her to use. She was still waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop, but in over three years, he had not asked for anything. Not once. She still didn't buy the altruistic act. Not from him, but she wasn't going to argue.

Kim needed help, and she needed that jet.

She flew straight to Go City the moment she reached Senior's island, and climbed into the jet. For the first time in years, she was wearing her old costume again. For the first time in years, she was doing something that meant something. Not just to her, but maybe, must maybe, the whole world.

She flew into Go City, landing at the airport just before dusk. Unfortunately, the jet wasn't a VTOL, so she needed a landing strip.

Just as well.

She didn't want anyone seeing her.

She arranged a masquerade, headed out to Go Island, and chose to swim out under cover of dark rather than risk a boat where she might be spotted. She reached the tower, but didn't go to the front door. By now, Hego was likely out on patrol, but she was taking no chances. She went to the far side of the island, and dug out a small cellar door only she and her brothers knew about, and then easily disarmed the security to slip into a narrow tunnel that led to the underground vault beneath Go Tower where Hego stored their more dangerous relics and souvenirs taken over the years.

One souvenir in particular drew her now.

She reached the valut once she got inside the tower with ease.

Things really had not changed. Hego, the big doof, had not upgraded, or even changed the security pass codes since the last time she had been here. Just then, she wasn't complaining.

She walked into the huge vault, eyeing some serious tech, and some bizarre weapons, but she didn't give them a second look. She went through the maze of haphazardly arranged shelves and stacks of trophies and relics, and finally found a small, lead box that was set back in a corner as if only an afterthought.

The innocuous box was far more than it appeared, though.

She snapped the lock off by simply melting it, and tossed the molten hasp away before she opened the box to ensure it was still there. She had come to far to make a mistake now.

The faint, golden glow of the yellow crystalline stone gleamed before her in the dimly lit safe as she smiled for the first time since she had started her mission. She even felt a surge of extra energy, proving the rock still had its power to affect her. And hopefully Kim.

Just as she closed the box on that last, remaining fragment of the Go City Comet, she heard a throat clearing directly behind her.

"Hego," she murmured, not turning. Not moving. Just standing there, and then slowly, showing no sign of hostility, she turned around to face her brother.

"A part of me is genuinely surprised to see you, Sis," Hego said in as grim a tone as she had ever heard from him. "I'm even….relieved….in a very small way. But I'm disappointed you showed up after all this time just to steal from us," he told her, his blue eyes cool, his big fists clenched. "Especially that," he added, eyeding the box holding that precious, dangerous fragment.

"It's not what you think, Hego," she told him.

"No? And what do I think, Shego," he asked her curtly, taking a step toward her, his jaw so tight he might break teeth if he didn't ease up.

"My powers are just as strong as ever. So, no, this isn't for me. It's for Kim Possible. She's still alive."

"What," Hego gasped so softly it was almost inaudible as he froze, just staring at her.

"I know you don't have any reason to believe me, but she survived. We both did. Just barely, I'll admit, but I've been taking care of her. She's hurt really bad, and despite all...I've been able to do, she's dying. I only recently remembered this stupid rock, and I hoped….. I thought…. Maybe it might….heal her the way it used to heal us," she said, knowing the power was still there, because she had felt a brief surge in her own powers when she had opened the box.

"Kim Possible….is still alive?"

"Yes. She saved my life, and we both managed to get out. Only she was left badly hurt. Too much to risk bringing her back, in case you're wondering. Our enemies would have finished her off for sure if she had come back in her condition. So we….stayed out of sight."

Hego gave a faint chortle as he now visibly relaxed.

"I knew it," Hego said as she held the small lead chest, and prepared to leave. One way, or another.

"Knew what," she glowered at him at he pointedly stood aside, and gave her an opening to leave.

"That there was still a _hero_ somewhere deep inside you," he smiled.

Shego fixed him with a baleful stare, started to make a quip out of long-buried habit, and then realized how much things really had changed over the past few years away from the biz.

"This isn't about being a hero, or any other damn thing you think you know. It's about Kimberly. She's worth whatever risks I can take for her," she told him, and slipped out of the vault without looking back.

Hego said nothing as he secured the vault, and locked it once again.

"I hope we'll see you again," he said as she headed for the secret exit she had used to get into the tower. "_Both_ of you."

"We both know this is still just a crapshoot, Hego," she told him somberly, glancing at the box in her hands. "Until Kim herself says anything one way or the other…. I'm asking you to stay quiet about this for her sake."

"Mum's the word, Shego," he nodded at her with a solemn smile. "Tell her, I wish her the best. And I'm glad you're alive, too," he added as Shego slipped down the tunnel before he closed the heavy door behind her again.

Shego never looked back as she raced for the exit.

_**KP**_

"So, what now," Bonnie asked as Shego worked with Kim, preparing for an experiment that could literally save her, or kill her.

No middle ground.

"I'm guessing that to make sure it's effective, we have to…duplicate the conditions of the impact," Shego told her as she set the small, lead chest on a table before Kim as Bonnie stared at the small, innocuous box.

"How can you do that," Bonnie asked as Kim frowned herself even as Shego set up the paraphernalia borrowed to give Kim a transfusion direct from her veins. The hope was that it would jumpstart Kim's metabolism, and give her an advantage when the dangerous part of the procedure began. "I mean, even I heard the meteor thingy _exploded_ over you guys, and _that_ was what gave you your power."

"Bingo," Shego nodded. "So I am going to have to superheat the fragment, and _make_ it explode."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but how am I supposed to survive the kind of heat that would take," Kim asked quietly though her eyes never once left that box. "The extreme temperature necessary to fracture the crystal would bake me like….."

"You'll never feel it," she told Kim, and held up a glowing finger. "Not if I do this right. I am hoping my plasma will be enough to heat, and vaporize the fragment, and free whatever radiations are still left inside this rock to help you heal."

"So, is she going to turn some freaky color, too?"

"No clue," Shego admitted. "But….I think it will heal her."

"How can you be sure," Kim and Bonnie both asked.

"Because even with our healing factors, me and the boys noticed years ago that just being around this hunk of rock when we were hurt jumpstarted our metabolisms like we were turbocharged. We healed instantly, and got so pumped full of energy it actually hurt until we…..vented."

"So, infusing me with the residual energies might actually…..heal me? Just like you planned?"

"That's the plan, Princess," Shego told her. "Hopefully, it will work. Frankly, I'm no doctor, or scientist. This is all still just a….wild guess."

"I say go for it," Bonnie said somberly. "If you are going to die anyway, why not take the one chance you do have," she asked Kim.

"Wow," she smiled at her high school rival. "I didn't realized you cared so much, Bon."

"Even I hate seeing you like this, Kim," she said quietly.

Kim smiled. "Not too crazy about it myself. But I've been kind of resigned for so long now that… Well, I guess I got used to it. Maybe…." She looked up at Shego. "Maybe it is time to hope again, and take one last crazy chance, though."

"With your luck, Kimmie, it couldn't hurt," Shego smiled.

"Luck," she snorted, sounding indignant. "What I did was _never_ about luck."

"Now you sound more like yourself," Bonnie laughed nervously.

"All right. Before I get too tired, _or_ too scared, let's do this," Kim told them as Shego finished the transfusion, and removed the needles from both their arms.

"We'd better do this away from the house. We don't know what kind of energy might be released when I do this. And, no offense, Bonnie, but you'd better stay back," Shego told her.

"Afraid I'll get superpowers, too?"

"No. I'm afraid you'll die," Shego told her. "I did say this was a risk. My brothers and I weren't alone that day," she admitted for one of the few times in her life. We had three friends over, and there was a man walking past our back yard when the comet exploded."

"Yeah," Bonnie asked.

"They all died," Kim, having already heard the story, told her quietly as Bonnie only then grasped the implications.

"Every one of them," Shego admitted with a nod at the brunette. "It wasn't pretty."

"That wasn't in the stories," Bonnie said with a gasp.

"It's not the kind of thing you advertise when you're first breaking into the hero biz," Shego told her.

"No, it's not," Kim agreed.

"So, how far back should I be?"

"Stay in the house," Shego told her, and set the chest in Kim's lap. "You should be safe enough here. We're going out to the pool near the cliffs. If we're not back in…..say, two hours….."

"Then I'll come, and….."

"_Leave_," Shego told her firmly.

Bonnie stared at her., but said nothing.

"Don't worry," Kim told the brunette who looked more than stricken at the command. "What could happen?"

"That's what I like about you, Princess," Shego chuckled, setting the still sealed box in her lap before she pushed her chair toward the door. "Cocky to the last."

"Oh, you just like me now," Kim asked.

"Watch it, Kimmie," she growled. "Remember who's pushing," she added as Bonnie stood in the living room, watching them leave.

And found herself praying for a woman she had never had the guts to admit she cared for even while she had been beyond jealous of her.

_**KP**_

"At least you picked a nice place for an outting," Kim remarked, staring at the waterfall nearby as it fell over the stair-stepping cliffs, and into the wide, shallow pool that provided much of the fresh water for the island.

"I've always liked it here myself," Shego told her as she stopped, and took the box from her lap. "Ready to try this?"

Kim gestured, and Shego leaned over.

Kim grabbed her and pulled her closer, kissing her gently, but firmly, and then releasing her.

"Now I'm ready. Whatever else happens," she told the dark-haired woman that just stared down at her. "I have no regrets."

"None?"

"None," Kim told her. "Although, I wouldn't mind living a little longer with you," she told her earnestly.

Shego smiled, saying nothing, and opened the heavy box. Stepping back, she lifted the small, but surprisingly weighty piece of crystalline rock, and held it up over her head in both hands as they began to glow brightly, the emerald flame subduing the golden aura of the stone as she added more and more heat, and felt the rock begin to crack in her hands.

The moment it did, she let her plasma surge even as she flung the fragment up into the air, and fired a superheated ball of green energy at the glittering stone before it could fall to the ground. The yellowish rock pulsated as if alive even as it fell, and hit the ground just before Kim's feet. Exploding on impact so hard that Kim was flung out of her chair, and over twenty feet through the air to land in the pool with a heavy splash.

Shego had been knocked to one side, too, but still saw her fall.

She was on her feet almost the same instant she had hit the ground. Racing to the water when she realized Kim wasn't moving, she dove into the cool, clear water, and swimming toward the sinking redhead she could easily make out in the clear water. She grabbed the redhead's limp arm, fearing the worse, and pulled her inexorably toward the surface, her fear making her move faster than she might have otherwise dared with the injured woman.

She dragged her out onto the bank, and noticed her thin chest under her that sodden blouse wasn't moving. She immediately started CPR, hoping and fearing at once since there didn't seem to be any discernable marks on the redhead's pale body. No burns. No shrapnel injuries. She just wasn't breathing.

She paused, studying her chest again, but it still wasn't moving.

With a cry of despair, she began CPR again, and kept on until Kim suddenly coughed, and sputtered, and water gurgled up out of her lungs to spill from her lips.

"Kim? Kim, how do you feel?"

"Like a truck ran over me," Kim groaned as Shego helped lift her into a sitting position in her arms.

"Are you…..feeling any better," she asked, a ragged laugh of relief escaping her own lips.

"Can't really tell," she told her wearily. "I'm just feeling….really sore," she told her.

"I'll get your chair. Don't move. You may just need time to recover now," she told her, not yet making any move to release her.

"Whatever happens….. Thank you for…..trying," Kim smiled up at Shego before her eyes fluttered closed.

"Kim? Kimmie! Don't give up now, damn you, Princess. This is your chance. This is….."

Shego stared at the limp body, and realized her chest had stopped moving again.

"No. No, no, no," she cried, feverishly trying CPR once more as she tried to revive her again. "Don't go. Don't go," she cried. "You can't leave me. I…. I…_love_ you," she screamed.

There was no answer.

_Continued…_


	6. Chapter 6

_I do not own Kim Possible, or any Disney character named herein. This is a work of nonprofit fiction for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Redemption**

**By Twisted-Wun**

_**6**_

"I love you," Shego wailed, screaming her grief at the limp body beneath her. "Don't leave me, Kimmie! Don't leave now," she cried as she rocked her in her arms now, hoping for a miracle that wasn't coming.

She silently begged anyone that might listen to her for help.

There was, of course, no reply.

_**KP**_

"Shego," Bonnie asked as she looked up to see the woman carrying Kim's limp, still wet body into the house.

"She…..didn't make it," she sniffed raggedly. "I thought…..for a minute….."

Bonnie's hazel eyes brimmed with tears as she realized what the woman was saying.

Shego looked dully at her, and sniffed. "Aren't you…..supposed to be gone?"

"I couldn't leave. Not without….knowing….."

Shego carried Kim to her bed, laying her down before she pulled a cover over her still body.

"Shego? What will you do now?"

"I don't know," she admitted as she stood beside the bed. "I…. I just…..don't know."

"You could…..come stay with us," she asked. "I'm sure…."

"I can't leave her," Shego shook her head.

"Shego, she's gone. You don't have to stay here now."

"I _can't_ leave her," Shego said quietly, and sit on the end of the bed, staring at the shape under the cover.

"Shego….."

"I am _not_….."

"Look," Bonnie stared as she pointed with rounded eyes at the head of the bed.

Where a gradually brightening glow began to pulse under the thin blanket.

Shego gasped, and pulled the cover down, staring at Kim's still impassive features. She wasn't moving. She didn't seem to have any movement suggesting she was breathing again. But that glow was intensifying, and Shego couldn't help but feel something was happening.

"K-Kimmie," she called, daring to take one, still hand. "Come back, Kimmie. Come on, Princess. You can do it. I know you can. Come back to me….."

Kim gave a sudden gasp, eyes flaring wide, but showing only glowing, amber orbs without any pupils or irises as her body bowed, her back arching so severely that it would have broken again if she moved just the slightest degree more.

"Kim! Fight it! Come on, K," Bonnie shouted. "You can do it! Remember? You can do _anything_!" Then the redhead's body went limp, her eyes closed, and she was completely still again.

For a full three seconds before her chest rose. Then fell. Then rose again, and faltered raggedly before her breathing began to lift her thin chest more naturally.

"She… She's alive," Shego cried openly, and hugged the body before her with both arms. Her ear pressed to that small chest let her hear a surprisingly strong heartbeat. "She's alive," she sniffed, and clung to the woman that had saved her life years ago, and gradually brought her own heart back to life.

Bonnie sniffed as she wiped her own tears away. "Leave it to Possible to make a big melodrama out of everything," she complained loudly. Then sniffed audibly.

Shego just rested her head on the small body, clinging to her as if fearing she might yet fade away if she let her go.

"Mmmm," came a faint, almost inaudible moan as Kim began to stir again.

"Kim! You're back! You're awake," Shego asked, sitting up to stare down at her as Kim's own green eyes had fluttered open to look up at her this time.

"Mmm….eeeee," she slurred.

"Yes, Princess," she smiled brightly through her tears.

"'Uvv ooou, tooooo," she slurred, and then her eyes slowly dropped again.

But her breathing continued.

"She…..heard me. She _heard_ me," Shego exclaimed in wonder. Then she scowled. "Oh, snap. She heard me."

"Huh," was all Bonnie could say.

"You wouldn't understand," she grumbled, but didn't let go of Kim's hand.

Nor could she stop smiling.

_**KP**_

"Hey," Kim smiled, looking up at Shego who rolled over in the bed, and realized Kim was awake, and staring at her.

"You're awake," she blurted out inanely as she all but jumped up from the bed to study every inch of her. "How do you feel? Are you all right? Can you…..?"

"Slow down. I feel…..surprisingly good. No, I still can't move my legs, but…..I'm feeling much better. And I'm _very_ hungry."

"I'll get you something….? Do you….? Are you….?"

"Shego. Food. We'll talk while I eat. Okay?"

"Okay," she smiled at her, still unable to believe the redhead was alive. "I'll be right back…."

"I'll be up myself in a sec," Kim assured her. "You just go do what you have to do."

"Don't forget. The doctor is coming today to check you out, too."

"Oh, goody."

"Behave, and I might take you to the beach. It's going to be a great day," Shego assured her, smiling hugely as she set out the dishes they needed for the picnic.

"Princess?"

Kim had suddenly cringing, folding over in her chair as she clenched her fists.

"Kim? C'mon, Kim, what is it?"

"I'm…..all right," she told her breathlessly, looking up after a moment. "Just…. I felt….pain. In my knees," she told her. "I actually _felt_ them."

Shego smiled. "Well, I still doubt you're going to be jumping up anytime soon. Let's just take it a step at a time, and wait for the doctors."

"A step at a time," Kim glowered at her.

Shego smirked. "You kow what I mean. Besides, that pain has to be a good thing. It's the first time you've felt anything at all….."

She gestured helplessly.

"I know," Kim nodded. "I know. I just wish…. I'm still not moving anything. Or feeling anything else. It was just….all of sudden….. Knees. Wow," she said with a whoosh that showed she wasn't quite over it yet.

"Are you okay? Do you need something for the pain?"

"I'm fine. Honestly. I'm just happy to feel anything right now. So, let's go have a picnic, and I'm going to keep thinking my own happy thoughts."

Shego only smiled at her.

_**KP**_

"So, Senor Senior," Shego asked as Kim rolled into the room as the doctor who had just left discreetly left to leave them to talk. "What does he say?"

"Honestly," the suave, older man smiled. "He's completely stunned. The pain you've been feeling, my dear? You're body is rejecting a few surgical aides. Screws. Ceramic disks. That sort of thing? It's _all_ being rejected."

"But….?"

"The doctor, astonished as he is, assures me you don't seem to have anything to worry about. Somehow, your body is not only rejecting them, but….ejecting them on its own. You will likely be noticing some more aches as things….work their way out soon. You already have some skeletal regeneration going on, too, but the nerves are, of course, the tricky part of all this. You are healing. At a surprisingly phenomenal rate and degree. One that I had to pay him well to overlook, and not pry. Still, we still don't yet know how well you're going to heal, my dear," he told her as he looked from Kim to Shego, and back again.

"So, I might still not be able to walk."

"Right now, he's just surprised your degenerative state has reversed itself so dramatically. Or so swiftly. He would be the first to admit he is completely out of his depth just now."

"I wouldn't know," Kim grimaced. "All he did was hmmm and mutter as he did all those tests."

"You don't seem too surprised," Shego noted as the man sat sipping his tea as if he had all the time in the world.

"Honestly? I'm not. I have my own contacts, Shego. You must know that by now. I'm not sure of the details, but I do know that somehow, you availed yourself of something very similar to your own unique healing factor. I'm sure the doctor would be very interested in knowing what, and how, but as I said, I mollified him."

"Bonnie didn't tell you anything," Kim asked quietly, still yet to touch her own tea.

"My daughter-in-law can be almost as secretive as I am at times, Miss Possible," he smiled without censure. "Are you implying she knows something of your….miracle cure?"

"You might as well know," Shego told him, "Since we still need your hospitality until we know just how well Kimmie is going to fare. You know about my brothers, I take it?"

"Who doesn't," he shrugged.

"Well, I had a small piece of the comet that changed us, and I used it to revive Kim."

"My, that was obviously an extraordinarily dangerous ploy. Or am I mistaken in recalling that people _died_ when that comet exploded the day you and your siblings were empowered?"

"Several people did die. A few more got pretty sick. Me and my brothers were the lucky ones."

"And now Kimberly," Senor Senior nodded. "I don't suppose you've noticed anything….equally astonishing in your recovery?"

"Beyond my near death experience," Kim laughed lightly. "Honestly, I'm just glad I'm not dying now."

"I don't blame you. Life can be a rare and precious commodity. Especially when we realize just how little of it we have left."

"So, do we still have a home," Kim asked him.

"Of course. Of course," the man smiled, and rose from his seat. "And if you find you need anything…. Anything at all…. Do feel free to call. Or even visit if you are now feeling up to it," he smiled.

"We'd better not. We both know Junior couldn't keep his mouth shut if he spotted her," Shego reminded him.

"Ah, yes. My son does have his faults. A shame, really. Well, ladies, it seems things are looking much brighter for the both of you, so I will leave you to enjoy the rest of this very fine day. Until we meet again," he said with a faint bow, and walked out without looking back, the steady tap of his cane marking his passage.

"Well, looks like you might just make it after all," Shego told her.

"Maybe."

"What?"

"Well, the nerve damage. What if that doesn't heal? Or heal right? I could still end up stuck in this chair."

"At least you'll be alive," Shego said quietly, eyeing her carefully, wondering if she was about to go off on another weird mood swing.

"I know that," Kim huffed, and then her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I was thinking that whatever else happens, I might need an edge in the future that won't require you shadowing my every…..ah, step."

"Are you trying to push me out the door again," Shego asked. "Because I'm telling you now…."

"No. No, not that. I'm thinking practically here. Since we got rid of the nurses, and you're the only one here, it's a bit much for me to think you're going to be with every single minute…."

"Damn it, Kim, if you think….."

"Remember Felix Renton," Kim asked, cutting her off.

"Felix?"

"Well, it's Dr. Renton now. But you must remember him. His wheelchair once kicked your butt."

"The kid in the robot chair," she frowned.

"If I'm going to be stuck in a chair, for any time, I think having a little extra edge might be in my best interest. Don't you?"

"That means contacting him," she murmured. "You sure you want to risk that? Or are you thinking of going home after all?"

Kim sighed, and reached out and took one of her hands.

"Not just yet, Shego. Maybe…. Maybe not for a while. I want to know exactly what's in front of me before I make that kind of decision. I want to know I'm completely stable, and how well I am, or will be before I even think of that. So, for now, I need you to get Felix to come here. I think that would be the best course of action, because I sure can't go see him. Not yet."

"You don't want much, do you," she chuckled as Shego leaned over, and kissed her cheek. "But I'll do it. Even if I have to knock him in the….."

"No, no, no. You'll ask nice. We need his help. Remember?"

"I was teasing," Shego muttered, catching Kim's glance. "I was," she protested as Kim chuckled, and started to reach for her glass she had been sipping from after Shego had filled one for her.

Both women gasped as Kim, distracted by their byplay, knocked the glass over, and sent it falling toward the floor even as Kim reached out for it.

And it stopped falling even as she did.

For a second it just hovered in the air, the ice water spilling out all over the floor as it hung at an angle in the air, then Kim was jerking her hand back, exclaimed, "Did you see that? Did you see?"

"Whoa," Shego just gaped as the glass completed its fall, and shattered at Kim's feet on the tile floor. "Was that….?"

"I…. I think that was me," Kim stare, staring at the broken glass she had almost…caught. "But I don't have a clue how."

"We'll figure it out," Shego said, and absently reached for a shard of the glass to start cleaning it up. Then yelped as she caught an edge, and slit her thumb down the pad, and bright, green-tinged blood spurted from the sliced flesh.

"Let me see," Kim said, and grabbed a hand towel to stop the blood as she took Shego's hand. Even as she ran her own thumb over the cut, ensuring there was no glass left in the wound, Shego gaped, and felt a faint tingling as Kim's hand began to glow a faint yellow-gold as Kim and Shego both watched the deep, bloody cut heal almost instantly.

Which was something even Shego couldn't manage.

"Okay, that's new," the green-skinned woman exclaimed, and eyed the still bloody digit. "There's not even a scar," she exclaimed.

Kim just stared at her.

"Well, I think we know what you might be able to do now, Princess," Shego smiled at her, and more carefully reached to finish cleaning the glass up. "I think we'll keep this to ourselves, though. You do not want the headaches sure to come if people think you have the 'magic touch.'"

Kim just nodded, still staring at her own hands.

"Don't worry. We'll figure it out. Together," Shego said quietly.

She gave a weak smile to her, and nodded. "I'm glad you're here," she told her.

Shego smiled back, and finished cleaning up the glass. "Don't worry. We'll figure it out," she said again. "Together."

_**KP**_

Hey, Wheels," Shego drawled after creeping into the man's private apartment, figuring it was the safest place to approach him since the man still lived alone.

"_You_! You're still alive," the man choked as he spun around in his chair and stared at her with a fury akin to feral rage.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, Wheels. I'm not the only one who made it," Shego told him, holding up both hands. One of them holding out a small digital device. "You have a message. Listen to it before you go doing something crazy."

"Hi, Felix," a smiling woman that he couldn't believe was real waved from the tiny screen as he pressed the playback button.

"How do I know….?"

"Just listen. Then test it to your heart's content. Or, I could just take you to meet her. But, this has to all be _super_ hush-hush. Natch."

Felix glared heatedly, but switched the device back on saying, "You'd better have one hell of an explanation, bitch."

"I need your help," the redhead went on. "Yes, it's me. I'm alive. And that is only thanks to Shego. Please, for my sake, trust her. And don't say anything to anyone else. Not yet. I'll explain everything when you get here. The short version, for expediency's sake, is I I need a chair. A special one. Like yours, but even better, considering what I might face if I do come back. Seriously, don't say anything to anyone yet, as I'm not ready for that. Not yet. In the meantime, please, for my sake, trust Shego. I'm looking forward to hearing from you," she smiled.

Then the screen went blank.

"Details," Felix turned to Shego as he eyed her grimly even as he lowered the digital recorder.

Shego sighed. "Promise to hear me out?"

"You have my word. For now. But only for Kim's sake."

"I have to warn you, it's not pretty. Not then. Not now."

Felix crossed his arms, and eyed her evenly. "Details," Dr. Felix Renton echoed as his chin rose, and his arms crossed.

Shego nodded, and jumped on a nearby lab table, and settled herself there. "It's a long story. It started with Dr. Dimwit's last attempt to take over the world. Well, the last one we knew about."

Felix listened in silence as she painted a very grim, if heroic tale of Kim's bravery and unrelenting courage. Followed by her collapse into despair, and her many close calls before they realized all the efforts had been in vain, and she was still dying in the end. She told him of her 'miracle' cure, but left out a few telling details she felt he didn't need to know. Like telekinetic abilities that came with her healing touch. As well as that healing touch. No way was anyone hearing that one. The fruitcakess and losers would be swarming her for help if they heard of that one.

She simply told him their experiment had healed her, except for her spine which yet remained badly damaged, but that she now wanted to regain a degree of freedom and independence while she reconsidered her new options for the future. Remembering Felix Renton, and his mother's cyber-robotic tech, she sent Shego to ask for his help in making a chair of her own.

"How do I know this isn't just some kind of new plot," he finally asked. "It's been almost four years, and you only now just pop up, and…."

"I can take you to see her. But only you. No fancy tracking beacons. No tails. Nothing. She really is alive, Wheels. But she's more than a little paranoid about safety these days. With reason."

"What about her family," Felix asked. "Why not go to….."

"That's one of those touchy, to be decided issues I can't get her to comment on these days," Shego admitted. "Frankly, she's so afraid of painting a bull's-eyes on them again that she wouldn't even let me send them a message when she realized she was going to live the first time around. That hasn't changed."

Felix nodded somberly. "That does sound like the Kim I know. All right, let me grab a few things, and we'll go. Uh, how are we going to get there? Wherever there is," he asked leadingly.

"My ride's on the roof. So, anytime you're ready."

"My roof," he sputtered. "You do know that roof isn't rated for….."

"It's a small ride. Hardly any weight."

"Just let me grab a few things," he said again, and shook his head, and he rolled toward the back of his apartment with just the touch of a button on the chair's arm.

_Continued…._


	7. Chapter 7

_I do not own Kim Possible, or any Disney character named herein. This is a work of nonprofit fiction for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Redemption**

**By Twisted-Wun**

**7**

Felix's chair hovered in the air as he left the small jet-copter, and headed up the path indicated by Shego as she secured the powerful mini-copter. He spotted Kim sitting in a wheelchair near the tree line as he headed up the path. He grinned, though he was admittedly shocked at seeing her, and rushed over to set his chair down beside her own.

"Kim! You look…..wow!"

"Like your evil twin," the redhead grinned teasingly as the pale woman yet to fully recover despite her new lease on life rolled her own chair forward to greet him.

"You've been eating? Right?"

"Are you kidding," she sputtered as Shego joined them. "Senor Senior's new housekeeper he sent over to watch me while you were gone keeps trying to stuff me like I'm a piñata," she laughed at her, her eyes dancing with happiness at seeing her again.

"Poor little Kimmie," Shego grinned, sounding more like her own former self, and leaned down to impulsively brush her cheek with a kiss without thinking.

"Uh, well, _that's_ not uncomfortable at all," Felix exclaimed as Kim smiled up at the woman.

"Sorry, Felix. Emmie and I have gotten a little close since…..the old days. Well, a lot closer," she admitted.

"Obviously."

"So, I take it you heard Shego out?"

"Yeah, but I still had to see….. I mean, I was still worried….."

"And you came anyway? I really appreciate that, Felix," she grinned. "Well, come on up to the house. It's almost lunchtime, and Ms. Martinez is likely cooking enough for an army if I know her."

Felix, feeling not unlike Alice when she fell down that proverbial hole, followed the pair in stunned disbelief.

Kim Possible?

And _Shego_?

Not only alive, but…..?

His mind refused to wrap itself around the concept as Shego let Kim roll her own chair up the path while pacing her without taking her eyes off the redhead.

Ron would never believe this one. If he were ever allowed to tell him.

Then he considered something else.

"I guess you've heard that Ron got married a while back?"

"Of course. We're not completely out of touch with the world," Kim chided him. "Just in hiding."

"That's right. We have indoor toilets, and everything," Shego smirked.

"Be nice, Emmie. He is a friend."

"You always say that," Shego complained, not batting an eye as Kim's chair abruptly rose into the air of its own accord to rise up the stairs to the villa's porch. Even though, unlike his, it didn't have any robotic attachments.

"Show off," Shego huffed.

"Jealous," Kim shot back, watching Felix, who used his chair's mini-jets to 'climb' the steps, too.

"I am," Felix declared.

"Don't be," Kim huffed as her chair settled onto the porch, and she grunted as if she had been physically exerting herself. "Stunts like that take a lot out of me. I'll be eating, and resting all afternoon after lifting even my little bit of weight."

"Little is right. You sure you're eating," Shego asked her as she eyed her critically.

Kim eyed her. "Wait until you see how much I eat now," she smirked as they entered the villa.

_**KP**_

"I'm no doctor," Dr. Renton told her as Shego returned from tucking Kim in bed for her afternoon nap after she literally stuffed herself with enough to almost literally feed a proverbial army. "Well, not a _medical_ doctor. But from what I've seen and heard, I think….offhand, Kim must still be…. Well, mutating. Her caloric intake suggests a metabolic shift that is _exponentially_ growing. Have you noticed anything odd? Well…. Other than the whole near death experience, and the telekinesis," he added wryly.

"We know she's still genetically fluid. The last physician we had after her resuscitation declared her technically healthy, but still healing at an accelerated rate. We don't know if her spine will eventually repair itself fully, or not. We do know that lost organs and soft tissues are healing so well that….."

"Shego?"

"Look, Wheels, at the start, she had to have a complete hysterectomy. Okay? It was bad. Only now it's back. I mean, everything. Plumbing, pipes, the works. It just started regenerating, and all the plumbing is back like it was never gone. Her skeletal damage is even starting to repair itself, if somewhat slower, so we do have hopes for her spine and pelvis, but….that may take a while. She wants to have an edge in case it takes a while, or doesn't fully heal, though."

"I can understand that. So, a full defensive package, then?"

"Defense? _My_ Kimmie," Shego grunted.

Felix said nothing to the possessive sound of that one.

"Can she move her legs at all?"

"Just wriggles her toes. And only a little. Not much else. It gives us hope, but if you use the healing reaction with the time factor involved, it's looking like it could take years before all her skeletal injuries are completely healed. If, as I said, they do heal completely. We weren't exaggerating when we said she was hurt bad at the start. Still, she is doing better now."

Felix nodded.

"Which could account for the accelerated metabolism."

"That's what we figure," Shego simply nodded, saying nothing else about Kim's other potential abilities.

"I have to say, I'm still surprised you…. That is, she…. Well, that you….."

"You had to be there, Wheels," she said with a somber smile. "You really had to be there. Honestly, at the start she did want to go home. Then we started getting word about the attacks on her family and friends. She was afraid they might intensify. Or worse. So she stayed here, and…. Well, now, she's finally starting to come to life again. I do think this request of hers is more than she admits, though."

"You think she's getting ready to leave?"

Shego didn't even hesitate as she told him, "I know she is."

He had nothing to say to that as he looked back down at the digital notepad he was tapping on as he worked out schematics for the next-gen chair he was designing on the fly. Not a wheelchair, because it wouldn't be anywhere near that limited. Not when he was finished.

"I'd like to stay the night if I can to bet a few more measurements, and some more input from Kim. But I need to head back in the morning. What I'm considering here is going to take some time, and special tools. Parts you don't have here."

"You might be surprised," Shego told him, thinking of the cluttered makeshift lab where Kim had been puttering of late as she worked on a few projects of her own, proving she had the Possible gene for insane science, too. Especially considering some of the things she was cobbling together.

"Well, I know my gear, Shego. And I trust it. To be honest, I'd be suspicious of any freebies handed out by dubious benefactors. No offense."

"None taken. We are both still wondering what Senior really wants. Trust me, I know the guy, and I know he always has a bottom line. Still, so long as he's footing the bill, I'm milking it for all I can get. For Kim's sake. Besides," she smiled like the old Shego. "What's he going to do? Bill me?"

"I was more concerned with his apparent hold on Kimberly," he told her, glancing up from the schematics he was working on since meeting with Kim earlier that day.

"Then you don't have anything to worry about. If it comes to it, I'll be the one standing between them."

"Wow. You are….."

"Yes," she asked, one dark brow rising.

"Uh, protective. In a good way. I meant in a good way."

"Of course you did," she smirked. "You can have the guest room," she pointed down the short hall. "Bathroom is the second on the right. I hope you don't sleepwalk, I sleep nude. So does Kim."

Felix's surprisingly tanned features turned bright red as she rose to saunter out of the room, her point made.

_**KP**_

Breakfast proved oddly awkward after the intense session of the previous day, but Felix stayed casual even when Shego went out to prep the mini-copter to take him back home. Still, one thing still weighed on him, and he finally had to ask.

"So," he finally asked. "You're really okay with….Ron and Yori? You know….?"

"Felix," the redhead devouring a meal that would have lasted him a week told him with a soft smile. "I'll admit I was hurt at first. Only I was hardly in any position to change…..anything. Then, or now. Ron was part of my life for so long I just couldn't imagine being without him. Only the world moved on without me, and I've had time to get used to that. Besides, I knew Yori, too. She's a good friend. If there is anyone out there that could make a better match for Ron, I don't know about them."

"But you….? You're going to live now….? Right?"

"Seems so," she admitted. "But, Felix, I'm not looking to just barge back into anyone's lives, and start insisting they change to suit me. They moved on. They lived their lives without me. I understand. To be honest, I'm still deliberating returning at all."

"But…..?"

"Felix, use your reason here, all right," she asked him. "I'm still far from a hundred percent. I may never be again in spite of the healing metabolism I seem to have acquired. We're still waiting and holding our collective breaths on that one. But, just think about it from my perspective. Until I know I can hold my own again, I do not want to endanger my family, _or_ my friends by just showing up, and requiring them to defend me."

"But, with Shego….. And my chair….."

"Yes, because the world will just automatically pardon the most wanted woman in history because she kept me alive all this time? And _hidden_ from everyone?"

"I…..see the complications in that one biting you hard," he grimaced.

"Good. Then please accept that we are not doing anything impulsively here. We're moving carefully, and thoughtfully, and regaining my mobility, with an added degree of safety is just step one. Step one. So, please, give me time to take the other proverbial steps in my own time. In my own way, Felix. Promise?"

Felix stared across the table at her, and sighed.

"I'm just really glad you're alive," he told her. "I think we all went to a dark place when it seemed you were…..lost. Consider that, too, Kim. A lot of people felt you were more than just a hero. You were a symbol. The world needs symbols like you, Kim. Don't forget that, either, while you're making your plans."

"Oddly enough, Shego said something pretty much like that a while back. I really do hope you don't blame her for anything. She kept me alive, and sane, when I might have died years ago. And, to be honest, I think we…."

"I get the whole lesbian vibe," he teased. "You two pretty much glow when you're together."

Kim chortled. "That's just the comet-power."

Felix shot her a cool glare, but Kim only burst into laughter.

"Kidding. Kidding. But you have to admit, it had to be said," she teased.

"You're still warped, Possible," he drawled. "Just promise me one thing?"

"If I can."

"Let me know when you come back. I want to be there with you guys."

"I think Shego would appreciate it," she smiled at him. "I know I would."

"So, you're not calling Ron?"

"I'm sure he's busy. Besides, I'm still a long way from ready to come out, as it were," she told him as Shego walked back into the villa.

"Ready to go, Wheels?"

"Do you have to call me that," Felix sighed as he turned to eye her.

"You prefer 'Four-eyes.'"

Felix glared.

"She's teasing you, Felix. It's her way."

He grunted, but said nothing.

He moved forward a few feet, looked back, and told Kim, "Do I call you when it's ready," he asked pointedly.

"We'll be in touch," Shego told him. "And if someone from Senor Senior drops by, don't kick him out. Frankly, I'm pushing it making the few trips I have lately. Wouldn't want to tip off any one-eyed harpies before Princess is ready for her own debut."

"Right," Felix nodded, and smiled back at Kim. "Later, Kimbo."

Kim smiled, happy to see him smiling a genuine smile as he left.

Then again, knowing Felix, he was likely just eager to get to work, and prove he could outdo anything Kim might have even suggested. She doubted he had changed that much from what she had read of Dr. Renton in the online science journals.

_**KP**_

"It can't be," the man hissed as he eyed the surveillance footage from recent terror-watch cams placed in certain key airports around the country.

Quickly rewinding the surveillance tapes he was personally checking for a suspected terror cell leader they were hunting, Agent Will Du simultaneously rechecked the time and date stamp as he worked on placing the target within a likely perimeter based on known habits. Even as he rechecked the image, obviously masked, but unable to hide her very blatantly green skin, he tried to comprehend how a woman thought dead for over four years could possibly be showing up in a public airport pushing an invalid in a wheelchair.

An obvious ploy, he had little doubt.

Shego, as she was known, had never cared about anyone but herself.

Which meant the alleged invalid was likely someone who had conspired to help her stay off the official radar all this time.

His eyes narrowed as he focused on the invalid, trying to get a look at their face under that floppy sun hat they wore to use his facial matching software that had just confirmed Shego's identity with an error margin of less than .0009 percent.

Small, slender, obviously female. Or simply emaciated.

He tried to imagine who it might be even as he snatched up the downloaded data, and left the terror watch to his subordinates in the research division as he headed up two levels, and down a very restricted hall to an office than less than a handful of agents ever managed to even get to see. Let alone walk.

He knocked curtly, pushing the door open even as he called out, "Dr. Director, you're not going to believe this…..!"

He stopped, literally gaping as he stared at the two women already in the office with his superior as both looked back at him with faint smirks on their face.

"Told you he would spot you," a very lively Kim Possible told a very real Shego who sat next to the woman in a sleek, obviously not standard wheelchair of unknown design. "You owe me dinner."

"As if I would ever let you cook," Shego teased.

"_Impossible_," Will croaked as he stared at both of them.

"Check the name, errand boy," both women quipped as one, causing Kim to bark, "Jinx! You owe me!"

"A soda?"

"Nothing so cheap, sweetie," Kim beamed.

"_Sweetie_," Will echoed, looking positively sickly now.

"Agent Du, come in," the stern, ever somber senior agent that headed Global Justice's operations ordered him without the slightest emotion in her bland tone. "I was about to call you anyway. I need an official witness for this debriefing."

"Debriefing!"

"Calm yourself, commander," Will was chided. "We are professionals here."

"Most of us, anyway," Shego sniggered as Will finally recovered enough to close the door, and just stare before stepping forward, eyeing them in turn.

"Shego, behave."

"Now then, ladies," Dr. Betty Director returned her attention to them as Will regained his full composure, and stood silently just behind Shego. As if prepared to handle any move the woman might be considering.

"Still paranoid, isn't he," Shego murmured to Kim, nodding his way.

"Yep. Still has that stick….."

"Kimberly," Betty snapped. "You were about to explain how you two obviously managed to survive a force of nature that wiped out fifty square miles of parkland?"

"That was Shego," Kim smiled.

"That was Kim," Shego replied simultaneously.

Her single eye rolled as the woman muttered about amateurs.

"Just spill it," the woman told the pair that had genuinely surprised her this morning by simply walking….or rather entering her office without warning. Without clearance. And without managing to trip a single alarm.

A full hour and forty minutes passed before Dr. Director had the entire story, with multiple queries to clarify certain matters in her mind. Even then, it was obvious they were both hiding something. Her instincts said it was something big. Something she needed to know.

Her gut also suggested they would saunter right out of her office without telling her anything if they could. Unless she pressed.

"All right," she said, nodding at Kim. "I'll arrange transport for you back home, Kimberly. I know your family will be overjoyed to hear you are safe after all this time. You have been greatly missed, I need not say."

"And me," Shego asked in a soft, sardonic purr.

"You were not quite as mourned," Betty remarked. "But I do have a cell with your name on it I was hoping to try out before you….disappeared. Agent Du, take the prisoner into custody."

"No," Kim told them both, her smile fading as Shego didn't so much as blink as Will stepped closer, producing a pair of special plasma-resistant cuffs he ironically kept with him all this time.

"The woman is still a wanted felon," Will ignored her, starting to reach for one of Shego's wrists. "Until this matter is clarified," he went on, blithely ignoring the cold, overly bright look in those normally clear green eyes that Betty didn't miss, "The woman will be held pending full investigation, and…"

"I said….. _No_," Kim hissed, and Will found himself lifted into the air, and flung back over nine feet to slam into the wall.

And stayed there.

His feet still four feet off the floor.

"So? Nothing out of the ordinary," Betty remarked coolly when questioning the redhead's previous claim that her survival had not been anything out of the ordinary, eyeing his agent pinned to the wall like a living butterfly exhibit as he struggled in vain against whatever force held him.

"Well, not for us," Shego drawled, yet to move. Evidence that she was still not worried.

"Indeed," the older woman murmured, and then looked back to Kim. "Let him go, Possible. If you don't mind?"

"Sure," the redhead smiled, but Dr. Director saw the expression in those green eyes that wasn't quite masked by her usual, carefree grin.

The redhead was fully prepared to fight for her companion.

It was unexpected, but not completely. She had over a dozen scenarios that brought the women together even before their alleged deaths. She had little doubt she could use this one to her advantage. She had absolutely no doubt both of them knew that, and expected it. They wouldn't be here at all if they weren't anticipating using her own ploy against her. It was was she would have done in their place.

"All right," the head of the international law enforcement agency asked as Will dropped unceremoniously to the floor, landing on his knees before he could recover, "Let's talk turkey."

"Dibs on the white meat," Shego leered at Kim.

"Flirt."

"Tease.

"Ladies," Dr. Director growled as Will sat on the floor, gaping, still trying to understand what had just happened to him. "We _definitely_ need to talk."

She was not overly surprised that both women only smirked.

As expected, they were actually trying to play her.

Dr. Director found she didn't mind. After all, she definitely intended to play them.

_To Be Continued… _


	8. Chapter 8

_I do not own Kim Possible, or any Disney character named herein. This is a work of nonprofit fiction for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Redemption**

**By Twisted-Wun**

**8**

"Welcome to Global Justice, Kim," a gruff voice greeted her as she and Shego entered the tech lab where she had been sent after her very emotional reunion with family and friends last week.

For four solid days, she had been the heart of a media frenzy that welcomed the 'injured' heroine back from the dead, and celebrated her survival even as it absorbed the fact that a rehabilitated Shego had come along with her.

Even after a long, wearying week, Kim found it amazing that she remained the leading headline in virtually every news story around the world.

Ron had been sweet, but it was Yori who had touched her heart the way she had simply bowed to her, then hugged her. In absolute silence. Just before presenting her with their one year old daughter that they named Kimberly in honor of her memory.

That Ron had kept 'Team Possible' alive, recruiting both Wade, and her tweebs, also touched her heart. Keeping to the cover that Dr. Director envisioned, she let everyone know from the start that her 'mission' days were obviously long over. She might be working in an advisory capacity with GJ now, but she blatantly let everyone know she was not in any condition to be part of an active crime-fighting team any longer.

She did come out in full public support of the revamped Team Possible, and let everyone know how proud she was to be part of a legacy she had never intended when she first started her now near legendary website.

Walking into the GJ lab for whatever Betty intended for her, she was surprised to see a very familiar face grinning at her.

"Wade," she beamed. "I didn't know you worked here, too," she said, looking up at him. "And, wow, you got big!"

"What can I say, the dark-skinned giant beamed. My genetics rock, too," he winked, and the big man that had been her small, pudgy friend for so long she never envisioned him growing up half so well leaned down to hug her. "And I'm really glad to see you. Now, I have something I think you're going to like," he added when he straightened up to beam down at her.

"You do know she isn't up to walking, let alone….."

"Hang on, Shego. I do know her medical status, and frankly, what I've devised is perfect for her," he said as he led the pair into a private lab beyond the main work stations where over a dozen men at work paused to eye the two legendary figures.

He led them to a locked panel that required a retina scan, a palm print, and knowing Wade, a highly encrypted code only he knew.

"It's next-gen battle armor based on the Centurion prototype we borrowed for your old battle suit," he told her as Kim looked up at the dull gray latex garment that looked like a full body stocking with slender control gauntlets, and a digitally enhanced visor over an elastic hood.

Kim grinned. "So, what does it do?"

"_They_ call it a neuro-enhancing body augmentation device. I call it a shadow skin. Considering you are technically healthy and whole, but your nervous system has yet to fully reintegrate enough to allow your normal movement, I believe my battle armor will allow and compensate for normal movement without unduly stressing your body. At least for short periods of time. We'll have to monitor you at the start, of course, but it might even help stimulate and encourage your full regeneration if you start getting up and using your body to its full potential again."

"You did get the memo where Kim 'retired,'" Shego asked blatantly. "Right, Nerdlinger?"

"That's why I added the hood and optical sensor. Full spectrum visual aide, with onboard VR interface to help you adapt to any lighting conditions, while giving you onboard communications, and hacking assistance in any computer scenario. No one will recognize you with that on."

"Hmmmm. _Shadow_? That would make a spankin' code-name, too," Kim beamed, her green eyes lit with excitement. The kind Shego had not seen in a long time. "When can we try it out?"

"First we have another full medical workup. We need to ensure the onboard systems are fully integrated with your biology before we risk any kind of field trials. This is still a prototype, remember?"

"If you think you're sending Kim out in that…..latex underwear….."

"I have something for you, too," Wade turned to eye the green-skinned woman with a smug grin. "Obviously, _Shego_ can't be seen in the vicinity of GJ's newest operative without blowing her cover, so I came up with something that might help when you go into action," he said, and turned to open a locked box in the same equipment locker.

"You're not sticking me in some gaudy fetish outfit," Shego warned him.

He pulled out two slender bands, and a small buckle that might fit any belt.

"Please. Do I look like Drakken," he asked bitingly as he held out the open box.

Shego shot him a telling glare, but said nothing to that name. She had already heard he was still in lockdown. In a maximum security mental institution. He had apparently completely broken down after 'causing her death.'

"So, jewelry? How does that…..?"

He lifted the first band, and held it out. "Try them on. I think a demonstration will be far more convincing," he told her.

Shego gave him a skeptical look, but reached for the apparent jewelry at Kim's nod.

She frowned when she felt the bands actually constrict, tightening themselves around her wrists even as they were slid into place.

"Now, the control matrix," Wade told her, holding out the small buckle. "I'll give you the details, but I think once you see how it works, you'll be impressed," he told her somewhat smugly.

"And this goes…..?"

"It will attach to any surface. Wherever you want to put it, it will electro-statically bond itself in place until you remove it. Even your skin," he told her.

"O-caraway."

"Just put it on your belt," he gestured at the slender band around her dark green skirt she had worn that morning. "Then press the inset switch on the front."

She did, and felt a faint vibrational hum even as she felt the tingling warmth around the bands on her wrist.

"You just wired the devices to work for you, and only you. They're genetically coded. No one can turn them on, off, or even remove them except you now," he told her. "Now, pull up some of your bio-plasma. Just a little."

She did, and gaped.

Her usual green flame was a dark, swirling red.

"How…..?"

"It's the same energy you've always used. But the bands employ chromatic spectrum shifting to make it seem the plasma is another color. So you still have your power, but….. Nothing to tip anyone off that _Shego_ is working with….._Shadow_," Wade told her as he grinned at them.

"You overlook my pretty face, and my sunny personality, Brainiac," she growled.

"Think so? Look in the mirror," he pointed to a 'mirror' that was a reflective surface on the metallic interior of the equipment locker's open panel.

Shego glanced at the panel, and gaped.

Standing before her was a perfectly proportioned Kim Possible where Shego knew she should be. "What the hell…..?"

"Holographic overlay. That's just a default image to make my point. You can download, and preset up to ten different images for….all occasions," Wade grinned.

"It fools cameras, too?"

"I don't use cheap techniques," Wade sniffed. "That's a randomly oscillating, hard-light projection that will look and _feel_ real to man, or camera. You'll have to come up with your own costume, of course. But your body and face can become anything you want. Of course, if you want my help in the uniform department….."

"I think I can come up with something myself," Shego grinned, and thumbed the switch again, returning her 'look' to her own familiar, jade epidermis. "Just tell me how you download images to this doohickey," she said with a predatory grin.

_**KP**_

The summons came after her sixth mission proved that _Shadow_ and _Blaze_ were not only GJ's newest, but best agents.

The Shadow-armor, as Kim called it, not only gave her full mobility, but as Wade theorized, it was helping amp her own still regenerating body. Wade's latest scans indicated her healing had amped yet again, and her initial diagnosis of years to full health had been downgraded to only a year, maybe two. Maybe less. Meanwhile, she did still need that chair without the armor. She might make a few steps on her own now, but without that battle armor, it left her as weak as a kitten from the effort.

So she maintained the chair as cover, and was happy its defensive and offensive capabilities had been proven more than a few times in the recent weeks as old faces, and new ones popped up to try to make a name for themselves by putting down the resurrected heroine.

Between Kim herself, the chair, and Shego, they never had a chance.

That was saying any of them got past the security Wade and the tweebs had packed into the small, penthouse apartment Kim and Shego rented in Upperton. Allegedly to be near the university where she was finally finishing up her PhD.

In fact, it was so she could be near the area GJ offices.

Just after completing their latest mission, they returned to find a message from Senor Senior, Sr. inviting them to the island for tea. Nothing else. Both of them guessed the proverbial other shoe was finally about to drop.

Kim chose to go in her chair, her body still slightly wrung out after the admittedly wearying job of taking down a guy calling himself Blok. He had good cause, since the man could somehow shift his entire body in a massive, living stone that was as hard and tough as solid granite.

Unfortunately for him, Blaze proved that even granite could melt with enough heat. The badly singed and battered wannabe was now in a GJ infirmary, awaiting extradition to Russia, where the government wanted the fugitive for stealing undisclosed secrets.

Likely the secrets of his bizarre transformational ability, Kim suspected.

That didn't worry her. Not half so much as what Senor Senior might be wanting now that Kim Possible was back among the living, and back in the spotlight.

The flight to his private island took little time with the special mini-jet Wade had designed for her, and they had not bothered to deliberate, but headed out the moment they got the message. Now, setting the jet down right in front of Senior's front door, Kim shut down the engines, and glanced over at a somber Shego.

"Ready?"

"You," Shego countered.

"Well, we won't find out what he wants sitting here," she nodded.

Kim turned her chair away from the control panel, and opened the hatch as Shego eyed the darkness outside the billionaire's private house that could be considered palatial even in jaded eyes.

"True. Let's go find out what he's really up to here," Shego asked.

"Might as well. I'd rather not have this hanging over our heads when we have to face him, or Junior in the future."

"Smart. Whatever he wants, don't let him push you. Technically, I accepted everything on your behalf. You owe him nothing."

"I don't work that way, Shego. It's still my life, and he did what he did for me. I'd like to know why. Beyond the platitudes."

"Then let's go find out," she said, and jumped from the hatch without waiting for the ladder to extend.

Kim's chair didn't need steps, or a ramp, and she simply glided out and down to the ground as she adjusted the servos output to lower her to the ground. Wearing civilian clothes, she would never be mistaken for the new Global Justice Agent, Shadow, and that was how she wanted it. Kim Possible might be back, but she was avoiding the limelight.

Or so it appeared.

"Senor Senior, Sr.," she greeted the man who opened the door on cue even as they approached. "Are you alone?"

"My son took his bride and daughter on a much delayed holiday."

"So, he's on parole again," Shego drawled.

"Indeed. Come in. I have tea. A most delicious old brand from China. Quite rare."

"You said you had something to discuss. An….accounting," Kim asked bluntly.

"Indeed. Let me put your mind to rest now, my dear. I intend to be quite reasonable this evening. I trust you and Shego will be, too?"

The women followed him into the spacious living area where hot tea waited on a serving tray that looked to cost more than Kim's entire apartment. Furnishings and all. She didn't say a word as she accepted the cup, and sipped slowly as she watched him go through the motions of playing a host.

"Well," Shego finally cut the silence.

"Still impatient, Shego? I guess some things do not change. Well, let me start by stating that I never counted you out, my dear," he told Kim. "Neither of you. In fact, I knew that sooner or later, somehow, you would be coming back out on top. It is, after all, what you do. Remarkably well, in fact, as you've proven yet again."

"Bottom line, Senor Senior,' Kim asked. "What do you expect for your….hospitality?"

"Honestly, it's not much. Anticipating your return, I also anticipated my own…..decline as time, alas, catches up to even one of my caliber."

Kim said nothing as she simply sat watching him.

"My request is simple, _Shadow_….."

"I would prefer you not use that name when I'm not….working."

"Of course. Of course. At any rate, what I would like is for you to…..help watch out for my oft foolish son. We both know he will never manage to be a genuine threat to anyone except himself. Only I saw firsthand how quickly he could still get in over his head when young Stoppable nearly crippled him during one of his escapades. That young man obviously plays on an entirely different level these days," he sighed. "Fortunately, my doctors were able to treat Junior in time to forestall any debilitation."

"So, you want me to play….bodyguard?"

"Not at all. I want you simply to consider that my son is a hapless buffoon who often gets in over his head, and truly means no harm. I would not ask you to violate your oh, so admirable principles, but…. Perhaps you could….look the other way now and then when he is misbehaving. Say, so long as nothing….serious is involved?"

"That's it? Nothing else? No blackmail? No extortion? Nothing…..sinister?"

"Honestly, Miss Possible," he smiled now. "I am only thinking of my son. In time, I hope Bonita will guide him away from his folly completely, but even she has her hands full with him at times, as you must know."

"So, a blind eye, and a soft touch. That's it? No other favor?"

"As I said, so long as you know he is not doing anything…..overwhelmingly alarming, or threatening, which…. Let us be honest, he rarely manages. That, however, is but a request. My favor, as you put it, is something quite different. Or rather, someone different."

"Not Bonnie?"

"Oh, no. Honestly, you must realize that she is quite formidable in her own right. Still, she can be as blind as Junior at times. And a little too self-absorbed."

"Eleanor," Kim murmured, naming his young granddaughter.

"Precisely. I see your famed intellect remains as sharp as ever. You see, despite her obvious advantages, my granddaughter faces an uncertain, if unique upbringing. Whatever comes, she will require, as you young people say, an edge. I wish you to provide her that edge. Both of you."

"Bottom line, old man," Shego growled. "We're not anyone's lackeys," she pointed out firmly.

"Oh, no, of course not, my dear. Perish the very thought. In fact, what I ask is that you mentor the child. Train her. I would not even mind if you attempted to instruct her in your oh, so admirable principles. Honestly, you are two of the best women in the world for such a challenge, and I knew that even before the darling girl was born."

"So, you just want us as….personal trainers," Kim asked him bluntly.

"In essence, that is _precisely_ what I desire," the old man smiled slyly. "So, do we, as they say in these matters, have a deal?"

Kim stared hard at the old man.

"Nothing else? No breaking the law? No blackmail? Nothing but….training?"

"A little mentoring, and some timely guidance, perhaps. After all, if she learns just a tenth of what you two admirable ladies could teach her," he told them, "Then I daresay that Eleanor Senior will soon become a force to be reckoned with. Whatever path my dear grandchild chooses to take in life."

"And you don't care if we try to keep her honest," Kim asked him frankly.

"Well, we can't all be perfect," he chuckled. "Still, I do believe you'll do the honorable thing, and allow her her own choices when it comes time," the billionaire remarked slyly.

"Kim?"

Kim glanced at Shego. Then back at Senor Senior.

"All right, Senior. We have a deal. But you never tell anyone that Kim Possible and Shadow is one and the same. Ever. Not even, and especially Junior."

"Have I not shown you I can be an honorable, and sporting rival, Miss _Shadow_," he told her with a telling gleam in his still sharp eyes.

"That's the only reason we're talking," Kim nodded, moving her chair slightly forward to hold out a hand. "Deal."

"Deal," he grinned. "Shall I tell Eleanor you'll be coming by to see her soon?"

"Let's just surprise her," Kim suggested. "My schedule still remains…..tricky."

"Of course. Of course. And surprises do make for excellent opportunities to adapt and learn," he added as he nodded, and turned to show them to the door. "By the way, I have to know. How _did_ you beat Sonique last week? Even Jack was astonished you put her down so easily considering the power she can unleash with those vocal chords of hers. By all rights, you should both still be deaf, and off-balance after the sonic barrage she unleashed on you."

"Trade secret, Senor Senior," she told him with a faint smile as they headed for the door now. Even Betty didn't know she could use her new powers to heal anyone instantly. She might have to suffer a few minutes herself, but it had been beyond easy to heal Shego, and let her surprise the woman with her sudden and instantaneous recovery.

Outside the door, the cool night air filled the house when the door opened, an she glanced outside where their mini-jet waited. No lackeys or henches waiting, though she had half expected it. He even held the door for her as her chair moved silently past him, the servos barely making an audible whine as they lifted and propelled her forward. "You know how it is," she drawled.

"Naturally. And…welcome back," he nodded before he turned to go back inside, leaving them to depart. "I look forward to seeing what miracle you and your alter ego pull off next," he remarked before closing the door after himself.

Kim said nothing to that as she and Shego headed for the door.

"You trust him to keep our secret?"

"He kept our secret for over four years," Kim reminded her. "In his own way, he's really a nice guy."

"Yeah, right. I still remember that story you told me about him trying to turn you into ice cubes."

"Well, it was part of the job," she shrugged, moving back to the controls.

"Oh, no. You flew out. I get to fly home," Shego told her, taking the pilot seat next to the open space made to accommodate her chair.

Kim just grinned.

"Fine, I'll get to nap for a change….."

A distinctive tone filled the air as the communication panel lit up, and both women turned to face it.

Kim reached over, and flipped a switch as a grim, one-eyed woman stared from the screen where Kim still half expected to see Wade even after all this time.

"Agent Shadow. Agent Blaze. We have a situation. I transmitting the data to you now, but you're needed in Austria. Fortunately, you're not far from Europe now. I trust you settled with Senor Senior, Sr. amicably?"

"Yes, Dr. Director," Kim told her. "He just wants us to _mentor_ his granddaughter. Which might not be a bad idea. We could ensure a new generation of Seniors didn't follow in his proverbial footsteps."

"I agree. Work it out on your own time, though. Agent Franz Stein is waiting for you in Frankfort."

"We're on it," she said, reaching for the special case holding her Shadow armor.

"So much for a peaceful night out," Shego muttered as Kim opened the case, and pulled out the first pieces of her body armor.

"Look at it this way. We finish early, and we can take a little time out for that shopping trip in Milan you've been wanting," Kim told her with a wink.

"Who is he, and how fast can we put him down?"

"It's Dementor again. Teaming up with a newbie calling himself Gunz," she said, glancing at the data downloading on her comm-panel. "They're apparently trying to take over the German nuclear power plants for reasons yet to be determined."

"Boys and toys," she groaned. "Am I right," she sneered.

"Let's just encourage the Professor and his new friend to retire. Early," she grinned, and pulled the dark, featureless hood down over her distinctive visage before pulling on the visor over it. "Powering up," she said, and the air hummed as Shadow prepared to go into battle once more.

_End…..?_


End file.
